Ventures News: Ex-Intel technology guru joins NuTool's board

30.05.2003 | Wirtschaftspresse

MILPITAS, Calif. - Gerald Marcyk, formerly director of components research at Intel Corp.'s R&D arm, has been elected to the board of NuTool Inc., a supplier of semiconductor equipment for copper, CMP, and related applications.





A 24-year veteran of Intel, Marcyk retired from the chip giant in October of 2002. Most recently, he was in charge of component and tool research for Intel's R&D arm, dubbed Intel Labs.


In his new role, Marcyk will become a board member at NuTool. He will also work part- time as an “advisor” for the chip- equipment maker, said Homayoun Talieh, founder, president, and CEO of NuTool, based in Milpitas.


“He will help the company strategically,” Talieh said. “He will also help us navigate through IC industry's difficult times,” he said in an interview with SBN.


NuTool is one of the emerging startups in the chip-equipment industry. The company sells the so-called LuminaCu system for copper deposition and planarization of advanced ICs. Based on a modular architecture, the LuminaCu is geared for 90-nm designs and below.


“There are enormous opportunities for us [in copper],” Talieh said. “Less than 5 percent of the chips shipped today are integrated with copper.”


Last year, NuTool introduced a chemical mechanical polishing process using a fixed abrasive that is intended for polishing copper on ultra low-k (ULK) dielectrics with a k value of 2.2 or so (see Dec. 4, 2002 story ).


In these markets, the company competes against the likes of Applied Materials Inc. and Novellus Systems Inc. But in spite of the competition, NuTool has shipped its tools to “six of the top 10 semiconductor companies,” Talieh said.