Kevin Vandersmissen (invited)

Kevin Vandersmissen (MSc) has been a CMP R&D team lead since 2023. His main responsibilities are linked to leading CMP development for advanced logic, memory, Optical I/O and 3Di programssupporting the IIAP (imec Industrial Affiliation Program), bilateral projects and JDP’s with tool and material suppliers (Joint-Development Programs). Together with his fellow team lead Nancy Heylen, who holds 25+ years of CMP experience, they are leading a multi-disciplinary team of about 20 engineers and process assistants.  

Vandersmissen started his career at imec in 2004 as a Support Process Engineer within the imec fab organization where he was the main responsible for both 200mm and 300mm thin film depositiontools (ALD, PVD, CVD) and rapid thermal annealing (Spike, Soak, Laser) tools. During that time, he introduced process monitoring and control for the salicide technology module and optimized laser anneal profiles to guarantee uniform within-wafer dopant activation. 

In 2010, Vandersmissen became a Process Development Engineer within the imec R&D team responsible for electroplating. He developed micro bump, TSV and RDL process solutions for the 3D partner program on both 200mm and 300mm electroplating tools. His activities widely ranged from establishing different micro bump metallurgies (Cu-Ni-Sn-Co) to support scaling of the 3D interconnect roadmap, enabling backside contact to electroplate Ni/Co seed catalysts for CNT-growth in HAR-structures to developing dedicated holders for electroplating of solar cells.   

In 2014, Vandersmissen took the R&D lead on the electroless plating joint-development program with Lam Research. His main accomplishments are upscaling an electroless Cu seed-layer process forimplementation on 300mm 3x50µm TSVs, setting up a NiB electroless capping layer process and demonstrating an electroless Co via-prefill process as dual-damascene disrupting technology within the nano interconnect landscape.   

In 2016, Vandersmissen became an R&D Engineer and switched his focus from electroplating to CMP one year later. He started working on dielectric CMP for advanced logic and shortly after added tungsten CMP as part of his responsibilities.   

Since 2019, Vandersmissen has been leading the joint-development program between imec and Ebara focused on establishing a unique CMP ecosystem, accelerating the development and implementation of advanced tool features while empowering our tool partner to anticipate and respond to their customer needs.  

The team of Vandersmissen is currently working on challenging CMP topics linked to advanced logic technologies (NSH, CFET, ...), extreme wafer thinning and advanced packaging. His team identifieschallenges and explores approaches that support and make a difference towards the imec ecosystem. He highly values daily learning from/with others and relentlessly focuses on sharing knowledge, insights and training. 

Vandersmissen received a MSc degree in Industrial Engineering from Group T, KU Leuven Engineering School, Leuven, Belgium (2004). On the personal side, he holds an Uefa B football coaching license, values a positive realistic mindset, likes to connect and is eager to learn languages.