Team



Overview

The Printovate Technologies Team has deep and broad experience at industry leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDM), and Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) providers. Members are experienced in leading all phases of product development, industrialization, new product introduction, and sustaining scalable manufacturing operations. They have held senior managerial and senior technical roles in metrology, materials, design, processes, assembly, test, and manufacturing operations for semiconductor (front end of line - FEOL, middle end of line - MEOL, and back end of line - BEOL), advanced packaging & heterogeneous integration, and printed circuit board assembly.

Individuals have been responsible for the development and deployment of advanced microelectronics capabilities and innovations spanning lab to fab (e.g., gate processes for R&D path finding as well as scalable manufacturing product launch). They have been granted more than 100 patents that established several high value microelectronics intellectual property portfolios (e.g., trade secrets, know-how, patents).

In addition, members are active in the microelectronics manufacturing community developing materials for learning and education (e.g., publications, internships, continuing education workshops) to expand and strengthen the talent pipeline for a sustainable workforce. They have collaborated with members of the microelectronics manufacturing ecosystem to establish models (e.g., algorithms, parametric data) to simulate manufacturing flows (predictive manufacturing). Furthermore, they have experience in public-private partnerships working with academia, industry, and government to establish initiatives leading to job creation and economic development.

They hold Masters and Doctoral degrees as well as MBAs and Six-Sigma Certifications. Team members are globally recognized industry and market experts, leading industry roadmapping, guidelines & standards initiatives as well as being active contributors at conferences and to publications. They also received significant personal awards as recognized by corporate and industry groups.

Members

Dan Gamota, President

Daniel Gamota has over 25 years of experience in the electronics manufacturing industry, spanning Semiconductor Foundry (middle end of line and backend of the line), Semiconductor Assembly, Packaging & Test, Complex Integrated Systems Assembly, and Printed Circuit Board Assembly at an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and an Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) provider. He has managed internationally located P&L sites and Centers of Excellence responsible for design, engineering, new product introduction, and manufacturing operations of aerospace & defense, automotive & transportation, communications, computing, consumer, energy, healthcare, and industrials products. Dan has been a principal investigator (PI) for several microelectronics programs awarded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Advanced Technology Program (NIST ATP). Also, he is active in and has chaired committees for developing microelectronics guidelines, standards, and roadmaps by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI), the IPC Organization, and the SEMI Organization. Dan was elevated to an IEEE Fellow and was named a Dan Noble Fellow at Motorola for his contributions and leadership in microelectronics design, materials, packaging, processes, assembly, and testing. He earned a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.


Christo Bojkov, Sr. Advisor

Christo Bojkov has over 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry as a senior technologist at several leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDM). He is an accomplished innovator who has managed large engineering teams responsible for projects spanning front end of line (FEOL), middle end of line (MEOL), and back end of line (BEOL). Christo is recognized for his technology development managerial leadership to deploy in fabs several industry foundational capabilities e.g., low-K dielectric materials, all-Cu interconnects, submicron Si-epitaxy processes, Cu-CMP for bare die lead free bump technology, Cu-pillars bump technology. He has also led the development and introduction of fan-out wafer level packaging solutions, lead-free CSP products, high-power high-frequency GaN & GaAs products, and the development of a family of mm-wave products for domestic defense customers. Christo has been awarded over 20 patents with several in review at the USPTO for semiconductor, advanced packaging, and heterogeneous integration (e.g., high frequency multichip modules, on-wafer cavity MEMS architectures, Cu-pillars, CoW & W2W wafer bonding, advanced molding materials, moisture protection dielectrics, carbon and graphene thermal interface materials, embedded passives, sintered materials for die attach and chiplet surface architectures). Christo began his post graduate studies as a visiting scholar and post-doc at the Universities of Paris (Rome) and at the Max-Plank Institute (Germany) where he developed his strong appreciation for the importance of education & training of the future talent entering the electronics manufacturing workforce. He continues to engage in thought leadership activities as an active member of committees at IMAPS and IEEE/ECTC. Christo received his Ph.D. from the Sofia Institute of Technology, Bulgaria in Electrochemistry and a M.S. from Texas A&M University, College Station, TX in Thin Films and Surface Science.


Marc Carter, Sr. Advisor

Marc Carter has more than 35 years of experience leading activities to develop and deploy microelectronics interconnection technologies, printed circuit board technologies, and printed circuit board assembly processes used by OEMs throughout the electronics industry. He was responsible for a variety of technology development, introduction, and sustaining roles that included advanced fabrication and assembly materials, scalable processes, environmental compliance, and supply chain management activities around the world. Marc led efforts that focused on manufacturing process development, control strategies, and troubleshooting in printed circuit board fabrication and assembly through box-build, with concomitant involvement in failure analysis at component through field application levels. He has deep experience for operating within ITAR boundaries, and during his career routinely handled CUI and (under security clearance) documentation and processes up to the “Secret” level designation. Marc appreciates the national security importance for work force development to support the electronics manufacturing ecosystem. He won a direct contract from the U.S. Defense Department through a Cornerstone OTA supporting the National Imperative for Industrial Skills Efforts of the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment Group. During his career, Marc has had the honor and privilege of working with and learning from many of the true giants of the electronics manufacturing industry. This personal experience is the foundation for his strong drive to share the benefits of collaborating with and receiving mentorship from senior engineers. Today, Marc is co-leading the Electronic Manufacturing Technical Education Project. His team in conjunction with SMTA and others, are developing many small, locally-guided industry academia collaborative “nodes” to provide industry-specific training and curricula to prepare the next generation of technical workforce replacements for the rapidly “graying-out” experienced technical staff in the critical electronics manufacturing industry. Marc earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University and completed an M.B.A. from Nova Southeastern University in Entrepreneurship.


Marc Chason, Sr. Advisor

Marc Chason has over 45 years of experience as an Engineering Professional with success in building and leading high-performance multidisciplinary teams at national laboratories and across a vertically integrated Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). He is a recognized Industry Expert in multiple spaces of the Portable and Consumer Electronics Industry and has extensive experience with Printed Wiring Board Assembly, Microelectronics Components, Advanced Packaging & Heterogeneous Integration, Portable Products Manufacturing Technology, Microminiaturization Technology, Solid State Lighting Technology, Portable Energy Technology, and Nanotechnology. Marc has been a Principal Investigator (PI) for microelectronic-based projects for the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Advanced Technology Program (NIST ATP) and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He has been a program reviewer for the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE). He was the Conference Chair for the 2010 European Electronic Assembly Reliability Summit in Tallinn, Estonia, Chair for the 2013, 2011, 2009 International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) Solid State Illumination Roadmaps, and was author of the FlexTech Alliance (FTA) report “Novel and Innovative Power Sources for Lightweight Mobile Devices and Wearable Electronics”. Marc was a Motorola Science Advisory Board Associate for contributions to Radio Frequency Components Technology and was named a Motorola Dan Noble Fellow, Motorola's highest technical honor. He earned an M.S. in Materials Science from SUNY Stony Brook and holds 36 U.S. Patents and has published and presented over 90 articles.

Gene Kim, Advisor

Gene Kim has 25 years of technical and commercial experience in several services within the microelectronics manufacturing ecosystem such as advanced materials, semiconductor manufacturing, advanced packaging manufacturing, and printed circuit board assembly as well as large volume product markets (e.g., automotive, energy, consumer, industrial, bio/medical, filtration). He has experience at microelectronics OEMs in global sales, strategic technical marketing, key customer account management, new business development, project management, research and development, product development, intellectual property strategy, Lean Six Sigma, innovation strategy, startup acceleration and incubation, business process improvement, corporate turnarounds, and corporate business strategy. He has significant experience in successfully launching numerous products and services into the market, winning numerous awards for his and his team's contributions to the bottom line. Dr. Kim is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt and served as an adjunct professor at Florida International University, and as an Industrial Advisory Board Member at Missouri University of Science and Technology, Auburn University, George Washington University, and the Teal Economy Group. He is also the co-founder of the Global Summit for Advanced Manufacturing. Dr. Kim received his Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Iowa State University.