KLA employees from the KLA Instruments™, ECI, SPTS and SensArray groups hosted many key European customers and others from Asia and the U.S. KLA Instruments staff also shared the larger portfolio of solutions for defect inspection and metrology with visitors.

KLA was also a Platinum sponsor of the MEMS and Imaging Sensors Summit. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are miniaturized sensors found in the electronics, automotive, medical and communications industries. Forecast to grow into a $20 billion market by 2028, MEMS can be challenging to make, because these tiny components – often smaller than 1 millimeter – have moving parts and manufacturers often use antistiction films to prevent them from sticking together during manufacturing or long-term operation.

Currently, the most popular antistiction films used by MEMS manufacturers are based on PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), which have been called “forever chemicals” that never break down. KLA’s David Springer, product manager, Release Division, SPTS, discussed an emerging alternative that uses KLA’s Molecular Vapor Deposition (MVD) technology to deposit thin, fluorine-free “antistiction” films during the manufacture of MEMS devices. In addition to preventing moving parts of the micro components from sticking together, the solution would offer a welcome alternative to manufacturers looking to eliminate PFAS materials from their products and maintain the reliability of their MEMS devices.

With the continued demand and investment in the larger semiconductor industry in the region, many attendees recognized the universal challenges of recruiting and developing the talent needed to staff the facilities, which added a level of urgency to the workforce development segments.

Among the rising stars in the microelectronics supply chain honored by SEMICON Europa’s 20 Under 30 recognition program was KLA’s James McGrath, chemical vapor disposition (CVD) process engineer, Newport, Wales. Known for consistently taking the initiative to design new experiments that determine the root cause of customer issues, James seeks to understand the fundamental reasons of a result before pushing the process forward.