Physics Careers Seminar by Dr. Jerome Hubacek: 11 a.m., Feb. 3

Time:  11 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2012 (refreshments served at 10:30 a.m.)

Location:  190 ESB

Title:  Careers for Physicists, Scientists, and Engineers in the Semiconductor Equipment Industry (seminar announcement)

Abstract:  As semiconductor devices become more and more prevalent in all facets of life, the semiconductor equipment industry continues to be a growth industry where college graduates with degrees in physics, engineering, and other scientific disciplines can enjoy rewarding careers. This interactive seminar will describe the business environment of semiconductor equipment companies, the education and expertise that traditionally leads to successful technical careers in the industry, the type of opportunities available, and some keys for success in this dynamic industry.

Speaker's Bio:  Jerome Hubacek is the Managing Director of the Supplier Materials and Technology (SMT) Group at Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX) in Fremont, CA, where he leads a team of 70 technical professionals that supports the full line of Lam Research semiconductor process equipment products. Jerome was born in Chicago and raised in Palos Heights, IL. He entered the Electrical Engineering program at UIUC in 1981, earning his BSEE in 1985 and began his graduate studies at UIUC in Spring of 1985. His Master’s Thesis work was in the field of charge density waves, working specifically on crystal growth and low-temperature electrical transport measurements of transition metal trichalcogenides under the direction of his advisor, Professor Joseph Lyding, and in association with Professors John Tucker and John Bardeen, earning his MSEE in 1986. With the advent of the invention of the STM, Professor Lyding designed a compact, rigid, and thermally compensated STM that operated in air with minimal vibration isolation which Dr. Hubacek and his fellow graduate students adapted for operation in UHV to study the surfaces of semiconductor materials and epitaxial layers for his PhD thesis. Following his graduation in 1992, Dr. Hubacek continued his STM research on semiconductor surfaces as a post doc for Professor Lyding. After working in engineering positions at 2 small companies in the touch screen and display industries, Dr. Hubacek joined the Dielectric Etch Group at Lam Research Corp in 1996 and has held several engineering, management, and leadership positions developing leading-edge products. His patents in the area of silicon electrodes for the ExelanTM dielectric etch product line have generated over $1B in consumables revenue for Lam Research over the past decade. Following his nearly 10 years in Etch, Dr. Hubacek moved to the New Businesses group at Lam in 2006 and built a hardware engineering organization that developed a new generation of wet clean products based on Confined Chemical Clean (C3TM) technology. He recently transitioned to the SMT organization and frequently represents Lam Research at UIUC career fairs.