FIB/SEM Dual beam operations preparing lamellae for STEM/TEM imaging and analysis

Circuit edit development lead using the OptiFIB Taipan platform to develop processes for current (5nm) and future device technology (4,3,2nm)

Many many years at Intel in the infancy of circuit modifications using the Focused Ion Beam tools. I started out performing circuit edits on the P6S (Pentium Pro) and their accompanying chipsets. I also did work in FA cross-sectioning for the CPU, chipsets and flash memory groups. As the demand grew for more of these services the teams were split up and I landed on the chipset side for a year or so before ending up in the microprocessor group focusing on Intel's 1st flipchip Katmai. It was a whole new ballgame doing edits from the silicon side of the chips and on a whole new tool, the Micrion 9800 flipchip. Katmai was only going to be a engineering sample to see how the company would do on this new flipchip technology. It did so well that Katmai_ES, became Katmai_AO. After successfully verfying ECO's with our new circuit edit processes, the Pentium III was a huge success. We continued on to support nearly every generation of Pentium, Core, Core 2, Core 2 Duo etc. I also started using some of the Optifib tools at that time. In 2006, I moved to the chipset group. I continued to grow into some sample preparation tools like the Laser Chemical Etcher, the CNC machines and polishing tools learning the ins/outs of backside samples. This was in addition to the normal circuit edit operations we did. Near the end of my time at Intel we came back to the Optifib to do some of our more challenging edits. We never got a solid hold of what the tool was supposed to do at the time and it really struggled to perform as advertised. We struggled with it as well, it had horrible uptime and the days spent on it were frustrating to say the least. The layoffs came and I was one. It was hard but it was probably best at the time. I am grateful for the time I spent at Intel.