Before joining the team at PVD Products, Larry Scipioni got to know the company as a customer. During that time, he took an interest in PVD’s large-scale, high-complexity work, which aligned with his graduate work in thin film deposition. "I'd love to work there," he thought.
When he saw a job post some time later, Larry reached out about the position and soon became the Chief Technology Officer at PVD. In a recent conversation with Larry, he shared more about his technical background and his role as CTO.
What is your technical background in thin film deposition?
I developed an interest in deposition systems and thin film technology because I liked working to solve the difficult problems. My Ph.D. work was in surface science, doing growth and characterization of nanometer-thick magnetic films. In addition to the fundamental science, the conceptual development of processing and measurement hardware is of great interest to me.
I have worked in capital equipment and analytical instrumentation my entire career. Before PVD, I was working in electron microscopy applications research—of which thin film characterization is a significant part. Through my career and my graduate work, I developed a strong research and development background.
What are your main responsibilities as Chief Technology Officer?
On the strategic side, I investigate technologies and applications that could be incorporated into future systems to enable new capabilities for customers. I attend conferences, interact with researchers and vendors, and study the literature to understand technology developments and the application space. I look at technology trends to develop partnerships and write proposals for research and development engagements that would extend our technology impact. These are all intended to open up more business opportunities for PVD Products.
I also provide support to engineering, especially at the conceptual design level. With my background in numerical modeling and mathematics, I’m able to assist with calculations and simulations of performance to inform design decisions. I work alongside the engineers to ensure the deposition system meets customer needs.
How does your part in the pre-engineering process help customers choose the tool that's right for them?
I am in contact with customers early in the conversations about their desired instrument. Throughout the design process, I provide technical evaluation support as needed to ensure the design provides the desired performance. Our engineering team is extremely knowledgeable and capable.
Every project is driven by the customer need and not just a production of the closest design we have “on the shelf,” allowing us to deliver a truly custom deposition system.As we start a new year, what trends are you expecting to see from customers?
The industrial research community is continuing to push for the discovery of complex materials with advanced functionalities. The creation of multi-component films can require hundreds or thousands of experiments to find the right mixture of chemical elements and deposition conditions. I expect combinatorial deposition solutions to play an increasing role in this discovery process. PVD's capabilities in combinatorial sputter deposition position us to provide automated film deposition and characterization that greatly speed up this process. Our attention to experimental details provides a carefully controlled testing regimen, ensuring that the customer will accurately measure the intended material.
Advanced manufacturing is another important trend. Efforts like Manufacturing USA are striving to infuse advanced technologies into high volume manufacturing. Several of these efforts rely on thin film deposition to impart desired properties to large parts or rolls of material. Our recognized expertise in roll-to-roll coated conductors and large cluster tools positions us well to serve customers seeking to succeed in this market.What is PVD's differentiator as a strategic supply chain partner?
We have a deep understanding of the product technologies as well as the customer needs. We specialize in developing customized tools that can incorporate any technology, for deposition on any substrate, serving high throughput manufacturing or small batch research and development. We are able to offer customers the flexibility of custom design and a willingness to take on projects at any complexity. We're not a catalog manufacturer; nothing we do is "off-the-shelf."
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