OUR COMPANY
Fractilia is the leader in stochastics metrology and control solutions for advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Its patented Fractilia Inverse Linescan Model (FILM™) technology provides customers with highly accurate and precise measurements of stochastics, which are the single largest source of patterning errors at advanced nodes. By using Fractilia’s solutions, fabs can improve device yield and performance as well as patterning productivity. Fractilia combines expertise in stochastics, lithography and software to develop proprietary, physics-based algorithms which are optimizing processes throughout the industry. Fractilia is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
Edward Charrier, Co-founder, CEO and President
Ed Charrier has a successful track record over more than 30 years of creating and managing technical software and data analysis businesses throughout the business lifecycle. As Vice President and General Manager of the Process Control Information Division of KLA, he had worldwide P/L responsibility for eight enterprise and standalone software products with operations in nine countries. As the COO of FINLE he executed the business strategy for ProDATA™ and PROLITH™, which has been the industry standard for high-accuracy computational lithography for more than 35 years, and served as a key strategist for the eventual sale and integration of FINLE Technologies to KLA-Tencor.
Mr. Charrier received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree from the University of Michigan and a Master of Business Administration degree from The University of Texas at Austin.
Chris A. Mack, co-founder and CTO
Chris A. Mack is recognized worldwide as a leading expert in lithography and pattern roughness.
As founder, President and Chief Technical Officer of Finle Technologies, Dr. Mack developed and led the PROLITH™ and ProDATA™ software products to become the de facto industry standards for lithography simulation and data analysis. In 2000, FINLE was acquired by KLA-Tencor, where Dr. Mack served as vice-president of lithography technology. He previously served at SEMATECH and the National Security Agency. In 2005, Dr. Mack began working as a consultant, teacher, and writer in the fields of lithography and stochastics. In 2003 he received the SEMI Award for North America for his efforts in lithography simulation and education and in 2009 he received the SPIE Frits Zernike Award for Microlithography, the industry's most prestigious lithography award.
He received Bachelor of Science degrees in physics, chemistry, electrical engineering, and chemical engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 1982, a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland in 1989, and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998. Dr. Mack is a fellow of SPIE, Optica, and IEEE and was also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin for 25 years. In 2012 - 2019 he was Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS (JM3). Dr. Mack has more than 240 scientific papers and three books covering the fields of lithography and stochastics.
Strategic Advisors
Michael D. Kirk, PhD
Mike Kirk was a co-founder of Park Scientific Instruments, a scanning probe microscope company, where he served as a Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Technology Officer until its acquisition by Thermoelectron in 1997. Dr. Kirk then held several senior positions at KLA from 1997 to 2020 including Senior VP of the Surfscan Division, Executive VP responsible for the Wafer Inspection Group, management of KLA’s world-wide manufacturing and operations for all of KLA’s products, management of KLA’s world-wide sales and services groups, and head of Corporate Business Development of KLA overseeing 5 company acquisitions in 2 years.
Dr. Kirk has extensive understanding of operating in senior business leadership positions including sales and marketing, mergers and acquisitions, product management and innovation experience. During his career with KLA, he successfully grew numerous new businesses, operated large industrial groups across a variety of geographies, and developed and ran global capital equipment businesses.
Dr. Kirk currently is a business consultant in relation to M&A, business operations and strategic planning. He is also a Board member of SIMCO Electronics, San Jose, CA (2007-present), serves on the Board of Directors at Greatech, Malaysia (2021-Present), is a Strategic Advisor to Fractilia, LLC, Austin, TX, and is a volunteer tutor of Physics and Calculus to underserved students in California.
Dr. Kirk holds degrees in physics and applied mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley, California as well as master’s and Ph.D. degrees in applied physics from Stanford University, California.
William (Bill) Miller
Bill Miller was previously Vice President of Engineering at Qualcomm and had responsibility for RF, PMIC, and RFFE product testing and characterization as well as Yield, Diagnostic analysis of all Qualcomm’s products. Additionally, Bill’s team had responsibility for leading edge technology IP test chip characterization as well as all failure analysis and circuit edit for Qualcomm’s products. Bill also worked with Qualcomm’s Foundries and OSATs to drive process and device improvements to meet Qualcomm’s product requirements.
Bill has over 45 years in the semiconductor industry with experience in all aspects of semiconductor manufacturing and development from unit process engineering, process equipment, semiconductor integration and device engineering. Prior to moving to Qualcomm, Bill was Director of Outsource Engineering and Product and Test Engineering at IBM Microelectronics Division with broad responsibility for managing multiple new products and technologies at the IBM 300mm Fabricator as well as at IBM’s partner fabricators. Bill was also an author of multiple published articles and professional society presentations, patent holder, and former conference chairman of the Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference and former chairman of the Industrial Advisory Board for the Center for Micro Contamination Control at U of Arizona, RPI, and Northeastern University.
Bill is currently working with Fractilia advising on semiconductor process technology, yield, and reliability.
FILM, MetroLER and FAME are trademarks of Fractilia, LLC. PROLITH and ProDATA are trademarks of KLA Corporation.