13 October 1999 Leland Swanson ('77)

I work in the silicon processes R&D group (SiTR) at Texas Instruments where we are developing materials and processes for next state of the art silicon technology. We are working on the 0.50um and 0.35um nodes at this time. We are also integrating Cu interconnect technology into current processes.

After leaving VU, I got a MS in physics and EE from Michigan State University and worked at General Motors in Kokomo, IN. I then got an MS in physics from Indiana University and a Ph.D. from Iowa State University in condensed matter physics with a minor in mathematical physics. I then did a postdoc at Ames Laboratory operated by the Department of Energy.

Because the Si technology is maturing so rapidly, I recommend that students go into computer science, telecommunications/signal processing, analog or digital design, or digital signal processor design/programming. In the next few years, digital designers will not be able to ignore the analog effects any longer, so people w/ analog design experience may be in even greater demand than they already are. Interestingly, analog designers were not even in demand just 5 or 6 years ago. They could not get a job. The rapid pace of Si technology development and the ever increasing use of DSP's enable and require faster and more accurate analog interfaces between DSP's/CPU's etc. and the transducer/outside world.