Introducing ALD to the Semiconductor Industry with Suvi Haukka – ALD Stories Ep. 29

Dr. Suvi Haukka, former executive technologist at ASM, ASM Fellow and ALD Innovator Awardee, joins Tyler for Episode 29. Suvi began her ALD career at Microchemistry in Finland working on atomic layer epitaxy on catalysts for under the direction of ALD technology inventor, Tuomo Suntola. She continued with Microchemistry as head of the thin film development group before spending most of her time teaching the world’s biggest semiconductor companies, like Intel and Samsung, about ALD. Suvi is one of the integral people in introducing ALD to the semiconductor industry in the 2000s. Suvi and Tyler discuss how she started working with ALD, what it was like to do a PhD with Tuomo Suntola, and how the make up of Microchemistry changed over the years. We also discuss the circumstances surrounding the ASM acquisition, how development changed under new leadership, and how it felt pitching ALD to the semiconductor industry. 

In this episode: 

00:32 Introduction to Microchemistry 

06:01 Doing a PhD with Tuomo Suntola 

19:00 Visiting semiconductor companies 

25:37 Post-ASM acquisition