Executive Interview with Mohan Iyer – Vice President and General Manager, Semiconductor Business Unit, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Mohan Iyer serves as the Vice President and General Manager of the Semiconductor Business Unit at Thermo Fisher Scientific, a global leader in providing reference metrology, defect characterization, and localization equipment. These advanced systems are essential for driving innovation, accelerating time to market, and optimizing manufacturing yields in the semiconductor industry. Mohan has over 27 years of experience in the semiconductor industry specializing in semiconductor equipment and process control.

Tell us about your company?

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Our life sciences solutions, specialty diagnostics, analytical instruments and laboratory, pharmaceutical and clinical research services help improve patient health, increase productivity in laboratories, develop and manufacture life-changing therapies, help solve complex analytical challenges and support cleaner environments.

Through our extensive capabilities and global reach, we empower our customers to accelerate breakthroughs in scientific discovery, human health, global sustainability and safety. Today, technological advancements are powering our modern world – from new materials for cleaner energy solutions to advanced semiconductors that make way for next-generation technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning. The recent launch of the Thermo Scientific Vulcan™ Automated Lab, a solution that will drive a new era of process development and control in semiconductor manufacturing, supports the growing global need for analytical instruments and expertise within the semiconductor manufacturing industry.

What problems are you solving?

Thermo Fisher Scientific addresses key challenges in the semiconductor industry by providing solutions across R&D, yield management, and failure analysis. In R&D, our state-of-the-art atomic-scale imaging, elemental analysis, and characterization capabilities enable the development of high-performance materials and the precise structural innovations necessary for next-generation semiconductor devices. Furthermore, we offer precision circuit-editing technologies that accelerate the prototyping of new devices, significantly reducing mask costs and enabling faster time-to-market. In yield management, our metrology solutions support in-line metrology correlations, allowing semiconductor manufacturers to resolve yield excursions. In failure analysis, our defect analysis workflows provide rapid and accurate root cause analysis of manufacturing defects or customer returns.  Our electrostatic discharge test systems ensure compliance with industry standards, safeguarding the reliability and performance of semiconductor devices. These advanced solutions help optimize the semiconductor manufacturing process, driving innovation, reducing costs, and improving product quality across the industry.

What application areas are your strongest?

Our strongest application areas are centered around defect characterization and metrology in semiconductor manufacturing using failure analysis instruments, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Focused Ion Beam (FIB), and TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy).  We specialize in our ability to ‘see the unseen’.   As industry defect tolerance has shifted from parts per million to parts per billion, it’s crucial to identify defects quickly and accurately. This is especially important with AI chips, where latent defects are an increasing concern. We excel at accurately localizing defects for failure analysis and can quickly characterize these defects using chemical analysis and other electron microscopy methods. Additionally, we help control development and manufacturing processes in the fab by providing precise metrology for structures buried beneath the wafer surface.

We have decades of experience in developing automated workflows that significantly improve our customers’ productivity. Ultimately, we deliver comprehensive, atomic-scale data solutions with the highest level of automation, leveraging our cutting-edge instruments to meet the demands of the semiconductor industry.

What keeps your customers up at night?

As consumer products require more powerful computing capabilities, defect rates in chip development naturally rise with new technologies. A subtle defect that was previously in the ‘noise’, is now causing issues and they need to find those very subtle defects. A prime example is the rapid adoption of AI across various industries, which drives the need for even more sophisticated chips. A critical defect or process issue in the fab can severely delay time to market, which is a major concern for our customers. They need these issues identified and resolved quickly to maintain competitive advantage. Additionally, as advanced chips become more expensive to produce, managing operational costs becomes even more important. Our customers need automated workflows to reduce the burden on operators and streamline processes, helping to control costs while maintaining quality and speed. By addressing these challenges, we help them stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry.

What does the competitive landscape look like and how do you differentiate?

The competitive landscape in electron microscopy is established with other vendors providing instruments in this space.  However, we differentiate by offering advanced solutions that are increasingly critical as device structures shrink and become more complex. Our exceptional ability to precisely localize defects, reveal them for analysis, and provide atomic-scale resolution imaging is essential for meeting the industry’s evolving needs. Furthermore, what sets us apart is our unique automated workflows, which streamline analysis throughout the entire semiconductor product development cycle. By leveraging our deep hardware expertise, software integration, and AI innovations, we help our customers boost productivity and reduce time to market. Additionally, we stand out by having a dedicated semiconductor market division, focused exclusively on providing instruments and workflow solutions tailored to the industry’s needs. With decades of experience in providing specialized service and applications support, we’ve built a strong reputation for being the go-to partner for the semiconductor market. This combination of cutting-edge technology, market focus, and customer support is what truly differentiates us in the competitive landscape.

What new features/technology are you working on?

We’re continuously working on developing higher precision instruments to characterize even smaller structures. As chip devices become more complex, our goal is to ‘see the unseen’ by advancing both hardware and specialized software capabilities.  For example, in defect localization applications, instead of using traditional optical imaging we’ve integrated a high resolution SEM into the Meridian EX system, resulting in a remarkable improvement in probing precision.  Additionally, as chip footprints shrink and devices are stacked vertically, this introduces challenges in revealing structures that are microns, or even hundreds of microns, below the wafer surface. This drives us to continue our innovations in precisely revealing defects and generating metrology data for these cutting-edge chips. Another exciting focus is bridging the lab-to-fab time to data gap. We’re expanding automation not just within our instruments but also integrating our automation systems with those in the lab and fab. Our Vulcan Automated Lab is a great example. This will significantly streamline processes and reduce the time it takes to get actionable data, ultimately boosting efficiency and productivity in semiconductor manufacturing

How do customers normally engage with your company?

Our customers typically engage with us through various channels to ensure we meet their needs. One key method is through technical review meetings, where we share roadmaps and ensure we’re developing targeted solutions. We also interact with customers through seminars, conferences, and webinars. Engaging with our customers is crucial to our shared success, and we host and attend numerous events throughout the year.

Additionally, as mentioned earlier, we pride ourselves on providing strong local sales, service, and application support. Our extensive network of semiconductor-focused engineers, located worldwide, works closely with customers to address their specific challenges. We also use our global demo labs, called NanoPorts, as a way for customers to engage with us in solving cutting-edge problems and evaluating new technologies and techniques.

These interactions not only allow us to showcase our latest innovations but also give us the opportunity to learn directly from customers, ensuring we understand their current and future challenges. This two-way communication is key to our ability to provide effective, forward-thinking solutions.

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