Including a Microfabrication Foundry in your Business Model

Dr. Arturo Ayon
Senior Manager
MEMS Business Development
Sony Semiconductor
San Antonio, TX
ABSTRACT:
Although universities have always been a breeding ground for entrepreneurs mostly because of the vast intellectual contributions emanating from them, the number of technological contributions and start-up companies originated from universities seems to have exploded in recent years. Many of these enterprises involve a microfabrication foundry in their business model. Some advantages are perhaps obvious when making a decision between a foundry and having its own facilities. However, the foundry option does not lack a significant number of hurdles that must be overcome. Such hurdles can make achieving mass-production a major challenge. In this talk we will review the process followed by a foundry for accepting a microfabrication engagement as well as the internal effort involved for reaching the frequently elusive mass-production event. The objective of the presentation is to provide some guidance to potential and budding entrepreneurs.

BIO:
Arturo A. Ayón received the Ph.D. degree in nuclear science and engineering from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY in 1996.
In 1983, he joined the IBM Computer Manufacturing Facility in Guadalajara, Mexico as a Manufacturing Engineer. In the same year, he moved to Rochester, MN to serve as Liaison Engineer between the IBM manufacturing plant in Mexico and the IBM development plant in United States. In 1985, he was appointed Manufacturing and Quality Engineering Manager and returned to Mexico to oversee the operation of the newly installed manufacturing lines for computer systems. In 1986, he opened a marketing and distribution center for plastic commodities in Guadalajara, Mexico. He later sold that operation to return to graduate school to Cornell University. Between 1996 and 2000 he was a Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. He was involved in the development and fabrication of microturbomachinery and power generation microdevices. In 2000, he joined Sony Semiconductor, San Antonio, TX as MEMS Business Development Manager to initiate, coordinate and oversee the involvement of that site in the emerging MEMS markets.
His interests include deep reactive ion etching, wafer bonding, low-k dielectrics, thin film properties, and the application of MEMS technology to RF, optics and power generation.
Dr. Ayón is a member of the American Vacuum Society, the Electrochemical Society, the IEEE Electron Devices Society and the Materials Research Society.