Chris Mack (born c. 1960) is an expert in

photolithography Photolithography (also known as optical lithography) is a process used in the manufacturing of integrated circuits. It involves using light to transfer a pattern onto a substrate, typically a silicon wafer. The process begins with a photosensiti ...

. He received multiple undergraduate degrees from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 1982, a master of science degree in electrical engineering from the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

in 1989, and a PhD in chemical engineering from

The University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

in 1998. He became acquainted with lithography while working at the Microelectronics Research Laboratory of the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

. After an assignment to Sematech, he quit his job at the NSA and founded FINLE Technologies (1990) to commercialize PROLITH, the simulator he had developed to model

optical Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultravio ...

and

chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...

aspects of photolithography. FINLE Technologies was purchased in February 2000 by

KLA-Tencor KLA Corporation is an American company based in Milpitas, California that makes wafer fab equipment. It supplies process control and yield management systems for the semiconductor industry and other related nanoelectronics industries. The compan ...

, which now markets PROLITH. In 2017, he cofounde
Fractilia, Inc.
to deliver MetroLER, a software product that models stochastic effects in the semiconductor manufacturing process. He currently serves as CTO of Fractilia. He is currently an adjunct faculty member at

The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

. He writes a quarterly column called the Lithography Expert. In 2003 he received the

Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International SEMI is an industry association comprising companies involved in the electronics design and manufacturing supply chain. They provide equipment, materials and services for the manufacture of semiconductors, photovoltaic panels, LED and flat pan ...

SEMI Award for North America. In 2005, he was the subject of the first annual Chris Mack Roast at the SPIE Microlithography conference. In 2009, Mack was awarded the

Frits Zernike Frits Zernike (; 16 July 1888 – 10 March 1966) was a Dutch physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1953 for his invention of the phase-contrast microscope. Early life and education Frederick "Frits" Zernike was born on 16 July ...

Award for Microlithography at the

SPIE SPIE (formerly the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, later the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers) is an international not-for-profit professional society for optics and photonics technology, founded in 1955. It ...

Advanced Lithography Symposium.

References

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External links

Chris Mack's personal website

Fractilia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mack, Chris Living people 1960s births Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology alumni University of Maryland, College Park alumni Cockrell School of Engineering alumni University of Texas at Austin faculty American scientists SPIE Year of birth missing (living people)