Esther Jeng

Dr. Esther Jeng is senior manager of open innovation in the Office of the CTO at Lam Research where she connects emerging technologies to Lam’s semiconductor products for manufacturing new generations of chips. She manages a portfolio of exploratory technologies in partnership with university and startup ecosystems to find solutions to the industry’s grand challenges. Esther has held multiple roles at Lam, leveraging 14 years of experience in ALD and CVD metals thin-film deposition. She has collaborated closely with leading-edge customers and led globally located engineering teams to develop products from initial power-up in the lab to high-volume production for logic and memory fabrication. Her areas of expertise include plasma and thermal thin film deposition, chemical process development and precursor handling in vacuum systems, and defect management. Her first immersion into engineering was at MIT where she learned to foster technical discourse and execution at all levels, from the use of liquid nitrogen to make the smoothest ice cream to the development of fluorescent carbon nanotube sensors. She believes that the most robust solutions are developed from open discussions where everyone contributes. Esther earned B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from MIT and an M.S. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in chemical engineering and has authored several papers and patents. She enjoys exploration: from cities worldwide to seedlings sprouting in her backyard.