ClassOne Technology (www.classone.com), manufacturer of advanced wet processing equipment for ≤200mm substrates, announced the formation of a Board of Advisors. This body will be made up of highly-regarded senior executives from the semiconductor industry who will provide their perspective and guidance to ClassOne as it navigates the expansion of its operations. Three distinguished industry notables, Larry Murphy, Eric Choh and Tom Pilla have been named to the board.
“ClassOne is experiencing very rapid growth right now, and we wanted to incorporate the broad perspective and deep experience that these gentlemen can bring to our effort,” said Kevin Witt, President of ClassOne Technology. “Larry, Eric and Tom are long-respected leaders in this industry and have already proven to be a huge asset. We are fortunate and honored to have them on our team.”
“We are delighted to add our support and endorsement to ClassOne,” said Larry Murphy. “We’ve seen the customer focus and innovative technology that this company is bringing to the industry. ClassOne is disrupting the old status quo and delivering much-needed high-performance electroplating and wet process equipment to the smaller-substrate markets — markets that have been generally underserved.”
Larry Murphy is presently CEO at PROOF Research. Previously, he had been CEO at Thompson Technology Group, VP and GM of North America & Europe SSG Sales at Applied Materials, and VP and GM of the Semitool Business at Applied Materials. Earlier, he had served as President and COO at Semitool for six years, and before that, as President and CEO at Tosoh SMD for more than 14 years.
Eric Choh has spent more than 30 years in the semiconductor industry with extensive experience in wafer fab operations and advanced technology development. Most recently he was the VP/GM of GLOBALFOUNDRYS’ Fab 8. Mr. Choh had also held a number of senior positions at AMD, including VP of Advanced Process Development and Executive Managing Director of the AMD/UMC Alliance.
Tom Pilla now holds the position of Global Supply Chain Director and Electronic Materials/Business Manufacturing Director of Litho Materials at Dow Chemical. Previously, he served as VP of Operations at Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials, VP of Operations at Rodel, and Global Supply Chain Director at Rohm and Haas.
ClassOne Technology offers a range of cost-efficient wet-processing tools specifically for emerging markets and other users of 3″ to 8″ wafers. The company’s mission is to provide advanced technology equipment at more affordable prices — to address the budget constraints that smaller-substrate markets typically have and fill a niche that larger equipment manufacturers historically have not addressed.
ClassOne’s current product line-up includes the Solstice family of high-performance, multi-purpose electroplating tools and the Trident families of Spin Rinse Driers and Spray Solvent Tools. All are specifically designed for processing ≤200mm wafers. Solstice systems are available both for development and production and are priced at less than half of what similarly configured plating systems from the larger manufacturers would cost. This is why Solstice is often described as delivering “Advanced Plating for the Rest of Us.” ClassOne supports customers with world-class process development, deployment and service around the globe.