PI Opens UK, France Subsidiaries
Nanopositioning specialist Physik Instrumente (PI) GmbH & Co. KG, OF Karlsruhe, Germany, has founded a UK sales and support office, PI (Physik Instrumente) Ltd., in Harpenden, England. The company also recently opened a sales office in Pantin, France (PI France). PI said continued growth prompted it to develop subsidiaries from its partnerships in France and Great Britain, which date to the early 90s, and will enable it to better focus on its nanopositioning and piezo technology business. (5/9/2008)
Indium Promotes Karl Pfluke
Indium Corp. of Clinton, N.Y., has promoted Karl Pfluke to senior account manager for the Metals & Chemicals Business Unit, responsible for sales in North America with primary focus on the solar energy market. Pfluke, who is based in North Carolina, joined Indium in 2001 as a technical support engineer and was named market development specialist in 2004. In 2005 he became regional sales manager for the southeastern US. He has a degree in manufacturing engineering technology, is certified by the Metal Powder Industries Federation as a powder metallurgy technologist and by the Surface Mount Technology Association as a process engineer. Pfluke is a member of the IPC Solder Alloy Standards Development Group and has presented numerous technical papers. Indium supplies materials to the electronics assembly, semiconductor fabrication and packaging, solar photovoltaic, and thermal management markets. (5/7/2008)
Lumenis Realigns Ophthalmic Unit
Medical and aesthetic laser maker Lumenis Ltd. of Yokeam, Israel, said it has realigned its ophthalmic business unit to report to Gideon Sturlesi, who will lead the unit in addition to his duties as corporate vice president for business development. Sturlesi replaces Jake Vander Zanden, vice president and ophthalmic unit general manager, who is leaving the company. Before joining Lumenis, Sturlesi was co-founder of Galil Medical Ltd. and CEO of its US business and venture fund group. He was also founder and CEO of several startups in diverse medical applications and is a partner in the Ofer Hi-Tech Group, which has invested approximately $150 million in Lumenis since 2006. (5/6/2008)
Chip Makers Team for Move to 450mm Wafers
Chip makers Intel Corp., Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) Ltd. announced they are partnering to drive the semiconductor industry transition to larger, 450-mm wafers starting in 2012. The total silicon surface area of a 450-mm wafer and the number of printed die (individual computer chips, for example) it can contain is more than twice that of a 300-mm wafer; bigger wafers help lower the production cost per chip, the companies said, and also cut down on air pollution, gases that contribute to global warming, and water used in the manufacturing process. Historically the industry has changed to a larger wafer size every 10 years to enable continued industry growth by keeping integrated chip (IC) manufacturing and applications at a reasonable cost. "The transition to 450-mm wafers will benefit the entire ecosystem of the IC industry, and Intel, Samsung, and TSMC will work together with suppliers and other semiconductor manufacturers to actively develop 450-mm capability," said Cheong-Woo Byun, senior vice president, Memory Manufacturing Operation Center, Samsung Electronics. The companies will cooperate with the semiconductor industry to help ensure that all of the required components, infrastructure and capability are developed and tested for a pilot line by the target date of 2012 and said they will continue to work with International Sematech (ISMI) in coordinating industry efforts on 450-mm wafer supply, standards setting and developing equipment test-bed capabilities. (5/6/2008)
Z-Laser Opens Sales Office in Wales
Laser manufacturer Z-Laser Optoelektronik GmbH of Freiburg, Germany, said it has opened a sales office in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, in response to market demand there for industrial lasers. Gary Rees, head of the Z-Laser UK operation, has more than six years of laser experience in the electro-optics industry and is a native of South Wales. "There are exciting and challenging opportunities in the UK and Ireland where hands-on support and close relationships with customers are needed; it's my job to make sure the UK office provides this," Rees said. The address for Z-Laser's UK office is: Venture Wales, Merthyr Industrial Park, Pentrebach, Merthyr Tydfil CF48 4DR, South Wales, UK; the phone number is 01443-693133. Rees can be reached via e-mail at:
rees@z-laser.de (5/5/2008)
Former Sen. Daniel Coats Joins NanoInk Board
NanoInk Inc. of Skokie, Ill., a nanometer-scale manufacturer and applications developer for the life science and semiconductor industries, announced the appointment of former Sen. Daniel Coats to its board of directors. Coats is currently senior counsel at King and Spalding LLP, working in the Government Advocacy and Public Policy practice group. He joined the law firm after serving as US ambassador to Germany from August 2001 to February 2005. Coats represented Indiana in Congress for 18 years, 10 in the Senate and eight in the House of Representatives. He served a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, among others. Before his election to Congress, he served as Indiana director from 1977 to 1980 for then-Rep. Dan Quayle. Prior to his political career, he was assistant vice president of a Fort Wayne, Ind., life insurance company. Coats is a graduate of Wheaton College and holds a JD degree from the Indiana University School of Law. (5/5/2008)
Luxtera Adds 2 to Management Team
Fabless CMOS photonics company Luxtera Inc. of Carlsbad, Calif. has added two to its management team: Bob Twomey as vice president of worldwide sales and Van Holland as vice president of finance and chief financial officer. Twomey, a 22-year veteran of the communications semiconductor industry, comes to Luxtera from Qualcomm, where he was vice president of sales for the Connectivity & Wireless Modules Div. He came to Qualcomm through the acquisition of Airgo Networks; prior to Airgo, he was at Agere Systems and also held various sales management positions at Extreme Networks, Infinity Sales, and electronics distributors Insight and Arrow. Holland has more than 30 years experience with high-technology companies mostly in the Southern California region; for the past two years he has served as CFO at Telmar Network Technology. He spent 20 years with semiconductor distributor Wyle Electronics, most recently serving as CFO. He then joined Cherokee International as CFO in 1999 and led the company through strategic acquisitions and a successful initial public offering (IPO) in early 2004. He began his career as an auditor with Arthur Andersen in 1975. (5/2/2008)
Kyle Rhodes, Terrence Woldorf Join Dymax
Kyle Rhodes has been appointed manager of the medical market segment and Terrence Woldorf as chief growth officer/senior vice president of global sales and marketing at Dymax Corp., a Torrington, Conn, maker of light-curing adhesives, coatings and curing equipment. Rhodes, who has worked with manufacturers in the aerospace, optical, engineering and medical markets, has a BS in chemistry from Siena College and an MS from Saint Joseph College. Woldorf will oversee the company's Americas’ sales team, market segment, light-curing equipment, marketing communications, customer service and support teams. He has experience in sales and marketing management, corporate development and product development in life science, automotive, electronic, aerospace, metal-forming and optical markets. He was formerly a manager with EFD (Engineered Fluid Dispensing) Inc. a Nordson Company, of Rhode Island, and previously worked for electronic components maker EG&G AluTech Corp. He has a BA in marketing from Ohio State University. (5/1/2008)
ORA President Robert Hilbert Elected Board Chairman
Optical software maker Optical Research Associates (ORA) President and CEO Robert Hilbert has been elected chairman of the board of directors, the Pasadena, Calif.-based company announced today. Hilbert, a 32-year ORA veteran, succeeds company founder Thomas Harris, who served as CEO until his retirement in 2000 and as chairman for over 30 years. Harris will continue as a board member. Hilbert joined ORA in 1975 as its vice president of engineering services; he was promoted to president in 1991 and CEO in 2000. Hilbert received his BS and MS degrees in optics from the University of Rochester and holds seven US patents in optics. He is also a SPIE fellow. (4/30/2008)
Paul Newbatt to Lead Business Development at CEMMNT
The Centre of Excellence in Metrology for Micro and Nano Technologies (CEMMNT) in Loughborough, England, has named Paul Newbatt as its business development director. Paul has more than 20 years technical sales management experience, having worked for Phoenix Scientific Industries, Rheometric Scientific and Polymer Laboratories, among others. "He will act as the key client interface for access to our network of over 250 multidisciplinary MNT specialists, which is the UK's largest, offering organizations relevant applications knowledge and experience, along with cutting-edge technology, to accelerate their innovation and commercialization," said Elwood Vogt, CEO of CEMMNT. Through its partners, CEMMNT measures and characterizes materials from the molecular scale to final devices using microscopy and spectroscopy methods to determine both the dimensional structure and local elemental or chemical composition. Thermal, electrical, optical, structural and mechanical properties can all be determined at the micro or nano scale. (4/30/2008)