ECE alumnus Tony Yen brings semiconductor industry expertise to Purdue in adjunct professor role
ECE alumnus Tony Yen brings semiconductor industry expertise to Purdue in adjunct professor role
Tony Yen (BSEE ’85), vice president and head of ASML’s Technology Development Center, has been appointed a distinguished adjunct professor in the College of Engineering. His three-year term will begin on Aug. 18.
“I am very honored to be appointed a distinguished adjunct professor at Purdue and look forward to engaging the faculty and students on various topics in semiconductors and growing the Purdue-ASML partnership,” Yen said. “As a co-chair of Purdue’s Semiconductor Degrees Leadership Board, I will continue to contribute my knowledge and experience to the program’s future growth and success.”
Purdue and ASML, a leading supplier to the semiconductor industry, expanded their longstanding partnership in December 2024 by signing a research and development partnership intended to advance semiconductor innovation.
The R&D agreement aligns with ASML’s concentration on establishing and expanding relationships with top U.S. research institutions and Purdue’s goal of bolstering workforce development through the exploration of new technologies for next-generation manufacturing tools.
ASML manufactures sophisticated tools that produce ultra-fine patterns on semiconductor chips, and all leading-edge semiconductor companies use these machines in production and R&D.
Other members of the interconnected global semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem with ties to Purdue include ASML’s customer SK hynix, the world’s leading producer of high-bandwidth memory chips. Purdue and SK hynix recently entered into an historic partnership to build a semiconductor advanced packaging plant for artificial intelligence products and an R&D center in West Lafayette.
Longstanding ASML partner imec, the Belgium-based innovation and research center known as the “chip lab of the world,” has an innovation hub on the Purdue campus devoted to exploring sustainable and synergistic semiconductor systems.
Opportunities to collaboratively strengthen the semiconductor industry and advanced shared goals will naturally arise as these organizations deepen their partnerships with the university.
In support of Purdue students in the Semiconductor Degrees Program, ASML’s Yen will provide expertise on the manufacturing track and identify any gaps in semiconductor curriculum around manufacturing tools and lithography.
In addition, Yen will interact with students and the broader Purdue community through the Purdue Engineering Frontier Lecturer Series seminar on ASML’s role in the semiconductor supply chain.
Yen began his career at Texas Instruments and later was on assignment at imec. From 1997 to 2017, he helped TSMC become the first company to adopt 193-nm lithography in the manufacture of logic integrated circuits, and he then co-led infrastructure development for next-generation-lithography technologies on assignment at SEMATECH. During his last 10 years at TSMC, he led the development of EUV lithography, including its mask technology, for high-volume manufacturing.
Also holding a master’s degree and PhD in electrical engineering from MIT, he is the recipient of the 2023 SPIE Frits Zernike Award for Microlithography and the 2026 IEEE Cledo Brunetti Award.
Source: Alumnus Tony Yen brings semiconductor industry expertise to Purdue in adjunct professor role