1. Michael A. Leeper
802 Canada Drive.
Milpitas CA 95035-4503
(408) 655-3498 cell
Mleeper@hypersurf.com
See my profile in Linkedin
Summary of Qualifications:
• Electrical engineer in electronic systems, analog and digital design, printed circuit board technology, maintenance,
troubleshooting and repair Designed and built electronic systems from the component level to entire systems. Proficient in
selecting and qualifying components and sub-assemblies, for reliability, compliance, and cost effectiveness. Familiar with
schematic capture (ExpressPCB, PCB 123), circuit board layout, and simulation software. Proficient with AutoCAD,
also familiar with LabView and MathCAD.
• Extensive hands-on experience with a technical background proficient with all standard electronic test/diagnostic
equipment such as multimeters, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers.
• Worked in the computer industry as a UNIX workstation system design engineer at the microprocessor, system
motherboard, and component level.
• Experienced with designing and building electronic process control systems for semiconductor capital equipment.
• Improve product quality by analyzing failure trends with customers and component manufacturers and perform root cause
analysis of system failures. Design changes to systems for cost reduction/reliability/ergonomics and serviceability.
• Knowledgeable with RF systems and vacuum technology.
• Designed and upgraded electromagnetic systems for reactive ion etching and magnetic systems for disk drive components.
• Knowledgeable with mechanical design concepts. Designed and built mechanical fixtures and capital equipment for disk
drive and semiconductor industries.
• Have an extensive background in chemistry. Worked with the chemical processes in the disk drive and semiconductor
industries.
Education:
Graduated from New Mexico State University with BS in Electrical Engineering. Have taken post-graduate coursework in
computer system design and networking from UC Berkeley.
Experience:
Electrical Engineer
Owens Design Corp (contract) 3/2015 – 6/2016
Engineer assisting in the development of the testing assembly for the solar charging and storage units for home & industrial
applications. Reviewed and updated schematics and electrical specifications. Implemented mechanical models into the
testing assembly.
Electrical Engineer
Intevac Corp (contract) 10/2015 – 3/2016
Engineer working with the design team developing their latest Matrix Implant and PVD vacuum coating systems used in the
solar cell industry. Developed the internal sub-assembly wiring and followed through with schematic and BOM updates.
Worked with system architects to implemented design changes and corrections as needed.
Electrical Engineer
KLA-Tencor (open contract) 3/2010 – 10/2015
Engineer involved in designing new video imaging storage server systems. Primarily involved with power systems, wiring,
and cabling, fiber optics, and high speed data transfer. Assigned high failure rate components and subsystems for
engineering analysis and corrective action. Design for CE, UL, and Semi-S2 compliance. Work with compliance agency for
testing and qualification.
Electrical Engineer
System Control Technologies {SCT} (contract) 6/2008 – 9/2008
Electrical engineer in charge of design of power distribution, electrical systems, computer/PLC control, and instrumentation
of SCT’s Hi-Vac and UHV bell jar and load lock evaporation deposition systems.
• Upgraded an earlier design to a more streamlined efficient system for a new customer. Worked closely with engineering
and manufacturing to remove superfluous instrumentation and control systems. Assisted the contract software engineer with
understanding the design changes in order to implement upgrades to the control software. Worked closely with the
technicians to design the system for manufacturability. Reformatted the electrical schematics into a more readable format to
assist manufacturing, field service, and technicians in following the system design. Implemented changes to facilitate
standardization of components eliminating duplication, reducing future engineering time, parts inventory, and cost.
Electrical Engineer

2. Semiconductor Tooling Services Inc. 10/2007 – 1/2008
Electrical engineer assigned to automating the manually operated manufacturing tooling. Updated the thermal control
systems on the cure ovens and bonding systems.
Accomplishments:
• Designed and built a prototype control system using a CUBLOC controller with a custom pc board to interface the
controller to the tooling to be automated.
• Built a “wafer bond linear shear force test tool” to characterize the wafer bond strength on an electrostatic chuck to the
applied high voltage utilizing a stepper drive system.
• Implemented a more modern temperature control system into a cure oven for evaluation and qualification to production
tooling.
Magnetics Engineer
Quality Transformer & Electronics 9/2005 – 6/2007
Electrical engineer involved with power transformer and power supply design and manufacturing. Implemented those
designs into manufacturing. Worked with various customers on their First Article Inspections for new products. Evaluated
returned products for root cause failure and implemented corrective action changes and handled ECR and ECO paperwork.
Accomplishments:
• Re-designed and dramatically improved the product line of “Noise-Cut Transformers” to attenuate EMI/RFI interference
from a spectrum of >90db @ 1MHz to >55db @ 1GHz.
• Updated and improved the testing department procedures and test equipment. Developed methodology to comply with
MIL-STD, CE, UL, and IEEE C57 manufacturing and testing standards.
Electrical Engineer (contract)
SITE Services Inc. 12/2004 – 4/2005
Designed and upgraded photoresist coating, developing, and baking spin track systems for the semiconductor industry.
Worked closely with the engineering staff to implement needed changes to the present systems and update BOMs and work
orders to implement changes to manufacturing. Worked extensively to upgrade schematics and user/maintenance manuals.
Senior Electrical Engineer
Noah Precision, an Advanced Energy Company 11/2000 – 2/2002
Engineer in charge of developing heater/chiller systems for the semiconductor industry. Involved with senior management in
developing corporate strategy and develop product changes accordingly. Improve product quality and reduce manufacturing
costs to increase marketability of chiller systems. Worked extensively with component vendors and end customers to analyze
failure trends and determine corrective action. Work with compliance agencies to ensure equipment is CE, UL, SemiS2, and
TUV compliant.
Electrical Engineer
Applied Materials 1999 – 11/2000
Engineer in charge of design changes to etch equipment for “deep trench” feasibility studies. Design changes include
modifications to electromagnetic system for the magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching, rf generation and pulsed rf
generation enhancements and process control changes. Inspect and upgrade equipment for Semi S2 and CE compliance.
Supervise the technicians on equipment changes.
Compliance Engineer (contract)
IBM Corp. 1998 – 1999
Engineer in charge of evaluating all non-mainframe computer equipment, test & measurement instrumentation,
manufacturing equipment and all other devices in question for year 2000 compliance. Investigate hardware, firmware,
software applications, and peripheral devices for compliance. Upgrade or replace equipment as appropriate. Test integrated
systems to ensure Y2K compliance.
Equipment System Design Engineer (contract)
DAS Devices Inc. (startup company) 1998 – 1998
Engineer in charge of implementing disk drive head manufacturing equipment to support new generation of inductive and
MR disk drive heads being developed.
Accomplishments:
• Worked closely with the process engineer in developing a four point probing system for the present inductive and MR head
testing.
• Designed and built a new line of hard bake ovens for the wafer curing process, including a modular control system. The
oven controllers were specifically designed to be modular and flexible so they may be easily implemented into other projects
with a minimum of re-wiring and programming.
Equipment System Design Engineer
Read-Rite Corporation 1992 – 1998

3. Engineer in charge of the design and modifications of the read/write head manufacturing equipment. Most of the equipment
designs are proprietary and are designed and supported in-house. Work closely with the process engineers and other staff
members in the design specifications, selection, and installation of new manufacturing equipment. Work with R&D
department in designing new equipment to support new products and manufacturing processes. Document the equipment
specifications and maintenance requirements for the new equipment. Train the operators and maintenance technicians on
new equipment.
Accomplishments:
• Re-evaluated the needs of the entire wafer and slider head lapping and polishing criteria corporate wide. Designed and
built from the ground up a new lapper/polisher, which obsoletes the variety of equipment previously purchased. Designed
and integrated a more comprehensive and flexible control system, which will facilitate process changes more easily than
previous controllers had been able to.
• Worked closely with the outside manufacturers and the software engineers to design and build the thin film head plating
equipment, etch stations, and other wet processing equipment’s control and monitoring system.
• Designed a pulse DC power switching system for the plating stations. This system made obsolete the rather poor quality
and expensive pulse DC power supplies that has been purchased from outside sources.
• Designed a more sophisticated reversing polarity pulse DC system. This enabled the R&D department to develop plating
processes that have not been available to Read-Rite from outside power supplies manufacturers. Paperwork has been filled
out for possible patent applications.
• Continuously upgraded the mechanical fixtures used in processing the thin film head wafers in the plating equipment. Re-
designed the mechanical fixtures for the new planar and MR head products.
Small privately owner companies I have worked with on an informal basis:
Fairweather Instruments 1998 - 2004
Working partnership with a manufacturer of instrument grade temperature regulated hotplates and coldplates. Instrumental
in developing the controller system for the hotplates enabling the company to expand it’s market by 200%. Advised on UL
and CE compliance, ergonomics, and customer interface design issues. Designed custom switching circuits and alarm pc
boards for the control systems. Manager for electrical engineering product development.
Oster Magnetics 1994 -
present
Working partnership with a manufacturer of industrial magnetics systems for the disk drive and semiconductor industries.
Instrumental in developing the next generations of magnetic systems for the magnetically enhanced reactive ion etch systems
for the semiconductor industry. Intricately involved with a fundamental invention of a Helmholtz type magnetic system that
provides the desired uniform fields required while providing backwards compatibility. Patents have been approved.
Dry Plasma Systems Inc. 2004
Designed the switch & logic, VSWR bridge, and phase and mag. detector pc boards for their new vacuum etch chamber.
Advised on the chamber design. Assisted in designing and building of custom plasma dry cleaning etch tools.