Ruben Waldman

What kind of scientist are you at Intermolecular, and what do you do? I’m a materials scientist and a process engineer. As a materials scientist, I seek to understand the relationship between a materials’ structure and resulting properties. As a process engineer, I design and implement processes to build materials with specific structures to improve the performance of electronic devices – the integrated circuits that are ubiquitous in our society. On a day-to-day basis, I analyze experimental results to see if our ideas on improving materials are successful. I use the experimental data to determine if our ideas are valid or if we are still missing part of the picture. I am also responsible for ensuring the experimental processes we do are repeatable and stable – meaning that if we do the same experiment twice, we should get a similar result. I enjoy this balance of exploring new ideas and fine-tuning to maintain engineering systems.

 

How does your work contribute to material innovation for the future of technology? Our customers have extensive goals for their future products – computer chips that can operate faster and with greater computing power, all while having higher energy efficiency. The work that my colleagues and I do at Intermolecular validates the materials that go into manufacturing these next-generation electronics. Our data gives the customer confidence that the products will perform in their exceedingly demanding applications with high specifications.

Tell us about a current project you are working on and how this is an example of materials innovation? One project I am currently working on involves the growth of metallic layers on insulating layers. The chemicals used to grow the metal layers can be quite aggressive and damage the charge-storage properties of the insulators. These insulators need to store charge to be read as the ‘1s and 0s’ in computer memory. We have developed a protective layer that can shield the insulator while still letting the metal grow well on top of it. Critically, this layer does not negatively impact the connection between the insulator and the metal like some existing approaches. This materials innovation may enable
electronics to become more power efficient. 

We explore, test and develop advanced materials that are revolutionizing the next generation of electronics that make lives easier, entertaining and more productive. For more than 15 years, our team, methodologies and quality data have driven impactful outcomes, market opportunities and innovative product designs for our customers.