Kent Ridgeway -CEO/CTO

Kent has over 35 years of experience within the semiconductor industry, including the founding of two semiconductor-related companies.

Kent started at Motorola's Semiconductor R&D Laboratories working on the development of laser assisted diffusion techniques and thermal stress studies on large diameter wafers. He implemented some of the first microprocessor-controlled wafer processing in the industry. In addition, Kent developed Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD) processes of Boron films for highly uniform doping.

After Motorola, Kent managed the diffusion, oxidation and LPCVD operations for processing MOS, CCD and other specialized devices at Hughes Aircraft Industrial Division. He then joined GTE Microcircuits /Senitron where he was in charge of ion implantation and LPCVD development engineering, before becoming the Sustaining Engineering Manager for all MOS processes for commercial, military and high-reliability medical applications.

Kent founded Silica-Source Technology Corporation in 1984; this was a specialty processing laboratory for the fabrication of MOS, bipolar and sensing devices. During this time he developed widely varied fabrication technologies, including spin-on high temperature superconductor materials, photoluminescent porous silicon, mercury gas detectors, flat panel and concentrator solar cells, as well as micro-machined atomic force microscope tips. Kent was responsible for the development of over 30 proprietary spin-on dopants, polymers, and glasses for applications in integrated circuit and materials manufacturing.

Kent has worked with hundreds of Universities worldwide, as well as many of the major semiconductor companies during his career, such as Motorola and Intel. He has also worked with many of the national laboratories, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore, NASA, Sandia, etc.

Kent holds one patent as an individual (Patent number 5,569,375) and two (6,228,175; the other one is pending) in conjunction with others. He has been a Past Instructor at Arizona State University on Microelectronics Special Topics and Founding Contributor for the Microelectronics Laboratory. Kent is a former Member of the College Advisory Council and Founding Contributor for the Microelectronics Laboratory at Northern Arizona University and is a member of the Electrochemical Society and a past member of the International Society for Hybrid Microelectronics (ISHM).

Karl Andrew Bernal - Vice President of Business Development

Drawing from his decades of business development experience, Karl Andrew Bernal is adept at preparing and coordinating RFP and RFQ filings, business plan development, investor relations and business consulting, with a concentration on the compliance needs of small public companies. His cleanup efforts have saved several companies from bankruptcy. Mr. Bernal has been on the board of a public company and has participated in four startups in the high tech sector. While with Tritec Industries a semiconductor equipment company, he jointly pioneered the use of micro filtration with chemical solutions used in semiconductor wafer processing. He has a track record of establishing gaining entrance to, and developing close relationships with key individuals of clients and their customers for business development and improvement.

As continuous improvement specialist, he has tracked technology changes to identify opportunities for clients and determines why a client's business is declining or improving and suggests a recovery solution or a business growth plan.

Mr. Bernal has a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Dayton, participates as a volunteer on standards committees, and current efforts focus on the high brightness LED, semiconductor, and P.V. solar industries.

Steven Shatas-Vice President - Solar Development

Mr. Shatas has over 25 years experience in the Semiconductor Process equipment field, and is one of the pioneers of Rapid Thermal Process technology. Prior to Modular Process Technology Corp., Mr. Shatas held technical positions at AG Associates as Application Scientist and at Peak Systems, Inc. as Director of Technology. At Modular Process Technology Corp. Mr.Shatas served as Technical Director, Principal Scientist and Designer from the company's inception through twenty years of continuous progress and growth. His proven technical leadership and design capabilities include mechanical, thermal, electrical, electronic, and software integration. Mr. Shatas has contributed to leading edge process equipment designs, and he has co-authored over 25 publications on semiconductor processing and materials science, and holds 3 US patents.

Mr. Shatas received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of Alabama, Huntsville and has performed extensive graduate-level studies at Stanford University.