D2S, a supplier of computational design platforms based on eBeam and general purpose graphic processing unit (GPGPU) technologies, today announced that Dr. Linyong (Leo) Pang, a semiconductor industry luminary and former senior executive at Luminescent Technologies, has joined the company as chief product officer and executive vice president. With more than 15 years of software, semiconductor and electronic design automation (EDA) experience, Dr. Pang will drive product development at D2S as the company plans to expand its computational design offerings for advanced semiconductor and photomask manufacturing.
“On behalf of the entire company, I’d like to welcome Leo to D2S. I am truly excited to have Leo— with his balance of leadership, innovation and business acumen—join our team,” stated Aki Fujimura, CEO of D2S. “Leo has an impressive background developing innovative products to optimize photomask and lithography processes, including inverse lithography technology (ILT), and has the rare skill set to perceive the needs of customers far beyond what they say, and match that to computer science to make new contributions to the industry. Leo is the perfect fit to help lead D2S’ strategy to be a leading software provider to the semiconductor manufacturing industry.”
“I’m very excited to join D2S to lead the company’s product development efforts,” stated Dr. Pang. “Semiconductor manufacturing has been moving into an era where the hardware and equipment are reaching their limit, and improvements increasingly will be achieved through computation and software optimization. I helped drive the development of ILT at Luminescent starting 10 years ago as a way to improve lithography, and then drove computational metrology and inspection to address the challenges associated with ensuring optimal yields on smaller and more complicated ILT mask patterns. Now at D2S, I have the opportunity to tackle the challenges of writing complicated masks with good pattern fidelity in reasonable write times—once again through software and computation.”
Prior to joining D2S, Dr. Pang spent 10 years at Luminescent Technologies, where he built up extensive product development, customer/sales and management experience in increasingly senior executive roles within the company. He played a key role in developing the industry’s first full-chip ILT product, source mask optimization product, as well as the industry’s first computational metrology and inspection products, which are widely adopted by leading mask shops and wafer fabs.
Prior to Luminescent Technologies, Dr. Pang worked at several leading semiconductor technology companies, including Synopsys and Numerical Technologies. He holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), and a master’s degree in computer science and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.
About D2S, Inc.
D2S is a supplier of a computational design platform to maximize eBeam technology to reduce mask costs for both low- and high-volume applications. D2S TrueMask® solutions enable advanced photomask designs at 28-nm-and-below process nodes using complex shapes for superior wafer quality but within practical, cost-effective write-times using eBeam mask writing equipment. D2S is the managing sponsor of the eBeam Initiative. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., the company was founded in 2007. For more information, see: www.design2silicon.com.