Global Water Intelligence

Hyeongrak Cho is a water treatment expert and researcher at Kookmin University's Smart Water Environment Leading Laboratory (SWELL). Born in 1986, Cho obtained his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Kookmin University in Seoul, Korea, in September 2019. During his graduate studies, Cho focused his research on the treatment of water, wastewater, and desalination using membranes. In particular, he developed expertise in the treatment of highly concentrated salt wastewater, publishing a paper entitled "Effect of pre-treatment and operating conditions on the performance of membrane distillation for the treatment of shale gas wastewater" in Desalination (IF 6.035). Cho has conducted two successful projects on the treatment of highly concentrated wastewater. The first involved treating shale gas wastewater generated in Texas using the membrane distillation technique, and the second involved treating highly concentrated desalinated seawater using a semi-pilot MD instrument. Manuscripts from these projects are currently being submitted to high-impact water treatment journals. Cho's experience also includes knowledge of MF/UF, coagulation, and sedimentation for pre-treatment and chemical, physical, and ultrasonic washing for post-treatment. He has collaborated on desalination projects involving forward osmosis (FO), reverse osmosis (RO), reverse electrodialysis (RED), and capacitive deionization (CDI). In addition to his research, Cho is studying modeling for the automation of water treatment plants using Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), Life Cycle Assessment for decreasing Carbon emission, Computational Fluid dynamics, and pipe analysis and design for Ultra pure water supply. Cho believes that his strong understanding of general and next-generation water treatment techniques and his experience in pilot operations make him a valuable asset to any research project.

Hideaki IINO is a Chief Researcher at KURITA WATER INDUSTRIES LTD, where he currently manages JDP activities with Interuniversity of MicroElectronics Centre (IMEC) in Belgium. I have been more than 10 years in the semiconductor industry on both the UPW technology and wet process business. I began my semiconductor career from developing particle reduction in UPW with a major component supplier, then subsequently learned the water purification and wet clean processes with IMEC. I have a lot of patents and conference presentations. I am a member of the IRDS UPW group.

Kurita Water Industries

Dave Buesser is the COO of FTD Solutions. He is a mechanical engineer from the University of Arizona, and he has spent his entire 27-year career driving advanced technology facilities forward. He began with a focus on semiconductor process piping design and proceeded to build likely the deepest experience in the industry on UPW distribution systems. He has led the design efforts for several UPW plants for greenfield semiconductor facilities and has also led many multi-discipline design teams on microelectronics facilities. Today, his focus is to bring world-class expertise coupled with unique tools to help solve the most pressing UPW and facilities challenges facing advanced industries.

FTD Solutions

Dominic is the Intel Director of Construction responsible for managing Intel’s latest leading edge Wafer FAB construction Program at Intel’s Ocotillo Campus Phoenix AZ. This program is part of Intel’s $20b investment on the campus.


Dominic has 35 years’ experience in EPCC project delivery. 16 years working with EPCC firms Costain, Jacobs, Fluor, DPS and 20 years within Intel.


Dominic holds a BSc in Construction Technology and an MSc in Project management.




Intel

Tina is a civil engineer working for Kokosing, a self-performing heavy industrial contractor in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. She holds a BS in CE from Case Western Reserve University and a MS in CE from Cleveland State University. Tina is a licensed PE in IL, IN, MI, PA, OH.

Kokosing Industrial

Dan’s almost three decades of experience as a facilities engineering manager, process engineer, design engineer, construction project manager and tool hookup design in the advanced technologies and semiconductor manufacturing industry has led to innovative solutions in his work. His innovations have resulted in industry-changing quality and cost savings breakthroughs, including defect reduction and innovative water reclaim and re-use systems. Dan is well established in the semiconductor industry as an Ultra-pure Water, UHP Chemical and Wastewater expert as shown in his leadership of industry roadmap and collaboration teams. He is certified by ASQ as a six sigma black belt. His roles include Co-Chair of International Roadmap for Device and Systems (IRDS) Yield Enhancement (YE) team, Co-Chair UPW SEMI Standards team, and UP Micro Conference Strategy Team. In addition to many industry publications, Dan also holds a patent for Reduction of Charging Induced Damage in Photolithography Wet Process.

Samsung Austin Semiconductor

Bernie Zerfas is a former facilities engineer at GLOBALFOUNDRIES. He has more than 30 years’ experience in the semiconductor industry with a primary focus on UPW and deionized water systems. Although his initial formal training was in chemistry and chemical engineering, he has had a wide variety of formal and informal educational experiences in a variety of technical disciplines. Mr. Zerfas is also an active member of the UPW sub-group of the ITRS; a recent area of focus has been organic and particulate contamination. His current other areas of responsibility include a spectrum of pollution control systems.

John Tracy is VP of Sales and Business Development at Gradiant Corporation. He has a combined 20 years of experience in the water industry, leading sales and marketing with Fluid Technology Solutions and Oasys Water, and in engineering and sales with Osmonics, Betz Labs, and ABB. John also has 15 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, in product management, with Axcelis Technologies and Akrion. He has a Chemical Engineering BS degree from Clarkson University and an MBA degree from Northeastern University.

Gradiant

Dr. Rushikesh (Rushi) Matkar is the Pathfinding Technologist for Water purification at Intel’s R&D Center in Hillsboro, OR and a corporate owner for the leadership roadmap of Intel's water management group. Responsible for driving solutions towards the success of Intel's high volume manufacturing roadmap. He is passionate about high purity delivery of utilities, IOT and advanced manufacturing. Between Academia and Industry, Rushi has extensive experience in bringing new IP to Market. Recently, Rushi successfully led the program to introduce EUV Lithography as a patterning solution for fabrication at Globalfoundries. He has served multiple roles within the leading nodes in technology management, operations and engineering management to help multiple technology nodes meet mass-market benefits.

Ovivo

Gary Van Schooneveld is President of CT Associates, Inc. Gary has over 30 years of experience with high-purity fluid systems including chemical delivery and ultrapure water and the development and testing of their associated materials and components. He is the author or co-author of more than 45 technical papers and presentations. Gary is co-chair of the SEMI UPW Task Force and an active member of the IRDS UPW and IRDS Critical Components Task Forces. Gary as been a key contributor in the development and validation of SEMI specification for measuring filter retention below 15 nm (SEMI C79), particle shedding from critical components (SEMI F104) and extractables ion exchange resin rinse performance (SEMI C93). Gary has BS and MS degrees in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) and an MBA from the University of Texas (Arlington, TX).

CT Associates

Latif joined Intel in 2005 as Microcontamination Engineer for the startup of 45nm process at Fab-32 in Arizona. He has been involved in four more process transfers to Arizona, including the latest 10nm startup. He is technical expert in Microcontamination, including AMC’s, with over 25 years of experience in environmental, semiconductor testing, AMC’s and other Microcontamination problem solving. Prior to joining Intel, Latif worked as a Research Scientist at Balazs Analytical and as a Technical Support Manager at ChemTrace. Latif has participated in collaborative efforts with many chemical and equipment manufacturing companies and organizations including, Sematech, Factory Mutual Research Corporation, in development of criteria for approval of materials suitable for use in semiconductor fabs.

Senior Process Chemical Engineer with 30+ years of experience working in Facilities Operation Engineering and Design within the semiconductor manufacturing industry. He is a Subject Matter Expert in chemicals, chemical systems, and application for semiconductor manufacturing, pollution abatement, water and wastewater treatment and supporting HazWaste systems and operation.

Alice Young

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More UltraFacility members

Hyeongrak Cho

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