about us
Covalent’s mission is to level the playing field and ensure that clients of all sizes have access to outstanding data generated quickly and cost-effectively. High quality experimental data is the lifeblood of any successful commercial R&D program. Too many companies operate blindly without critical data because the proper tool is not available in-house, and sending samples out to service labs can be slow, frustrating and expensive. Data that is generated in-house can be unreliable or imprecise if tools are not properly calibrated, are obsolete, in disrepair or not properly operated.
Covalent’s Analytical Services and Metrology Partners units are open for business and on a mission to provide and enable better, faster and cheaper data for every client.
Team, Board & Advisors
Board of Directors
Craig Hunter
Craig founded Covalent and is CEO. He initially worked in corporate development, finance and strategy, with stints as an M&A banker on Wall Street and as CFO of a small consumer products company. He rediscovered his Silicon Valley roots in 2003, taking a business strategy role at the display division of Applied Materials. In 2005, Craig became founding General Manager and later Managing Director of Applied Material’s solar PV factory product (“SunFab”). He joined Sequoia Capital in 2008 as an entrepreneur-in-residence focused on renewable energy technologies, and the next year he joined Intermolecular (NASDAQ:IMI) to establish and lead that company’s clean energy technology group.
Craig received an A.B. in East Asian Studies from Harvard College and graduated with high distinction from Harvard Business School.
Tom St. Dennis
Mr. St. Dennis is Chairman of the Board and former CEO of FormFactor, Inc. and serves on the Boards of Veeco Instruments, Inc., Axcelis Technologies, Inc., and JNI Corp.
Mr. St. Dennis has over 25 years of semiconductor industry experience and an extensive international business background, including broad expertise in customer sales and support, engineering and development, partnerships, licensing, supply chain and manufacturing. He previously served on the Boards of Mattson Technology, Inc. (until 2016) and Wind River Systems, Inc. (until 2003). He served as CEO at FormFactor, Inc. from 2010 to 2014 and as its Executive Chairman from 2013 to 2016. He served as the President and CEO of Wind River Systems, Inc. He held various leadership positions at Applied Materials. From 2007 to 2009, he was Senior VP and GM of the Silicon Systems Group at Applied Materials, Inc.
Mr. St. Dennis received an M.S. and B.S. in Physics at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Raffi Garabedian
Mr. Garabedian is the current Chief Technology Officer of First Solar, Inc. and has held that position since May 2012. Mr. Garabedian joined First Solar in 2008 as Director of Disruptive Technologies and served as its Vice President of Advanced Technologies since 2010 and oversaw its advanced research and development (R&D) operations in Santa Clara, California. He founded Touchdown Technologies, Inc. and served as its Chief Executive Officer. He worked in the semiconductor and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) industries for over 15 years, developing new products ranging from automotive sensors to telecommunications switching systems. He worked with Integrated Micromachines as Vice President of product development, where he led its team which delivered a telecommunications photonic cross-connect switch. He holds 20 issued patents and has a proven track record in technical marketing, management and team building.
Mr. Garabedian holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic University and an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Davis.
Advisory Board
Scott Thomsen
Scott Thomsen was the President of Global Glass Group for Guardian Industries, the largest glass manufacturer in North America, where he was responsible for the P&L for a multi-billion-dollar business with facilities in 27 countries on five continents and 11,000 employees. He is an experienced international business leader with a successful track record of generating positive, sustainable growth by creating competitive advantage through new business ventures, technologies, products and services, applications, and customer segments.
Scott Thomsen holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering and has over 60 U.S. patents.
Giorgio Riga
Giorgio Riga has more than 45 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. For 12 years at Fairchild, he was the manager of a central analytical laboratory lending support to the entire corporation. In 1982, he founded Riga Analytical Lab, Inc. in Santa Clara, California. The laboratory offers semiconductor and microelectronic analysis and consulting services. In 1991, he founded Macrorepresentation, Inc., a corporation aimed at the manufacture of semiconductor and biological structure scale models. In addition, he is active in professional societies: he has served as Chairman of the Santa Clara Valley Reliability and Electron Devices chapters of IEEE. At San Jose State University, School of Engineering, he developed the first two semiconductor courses offered by a local university that he then taught for 10 years. He is an expert witness, a technical arbitrator and a consultant in the semiconductor and microelectronics fields.
Giorgio Riga holds a degree equivalent to a Master in Electronics from the Istituto Radiotecnico Beltrami Milano and a Masters in Materials Science from California State University at San Jose.
Chuck Wickersham
Charles Wickersham has extensive thin film solar experience and established expertise regarding sputtering processes. During most of his professional career he managed and directed Research and Development of sputtering targets and thin films for integrated circuits and solar photovoltaic products. His work in these fields has contributed to 22 patents and more than 45 articles in scientific journals. He recently retired from First Solar, Inc. where he served as the company’s Materials Analysis and Development Manager. Prior to that, he was a Manager of Research & Development for a sputtering target start-up of Cabot Corporation and VP of Engineering for Tosoh SMD (Special Metals Division), a privately owned global leader in sputtering target technology. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of SCI Engineered Materials, Inc.
Charles Wickersham holds a Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Illinois.
Mark Harrison
Mr. Harrison is an adviser, consultant and angel investor for an array of start-ups. He combines strategy, product management, and corporate development skills with an inherent zeal for customer experience and operational excellence. Previously, Mr. Harrison was at BCG Digital Ventures where he was Head of FinTech ventures. At eBay, as Head of the Mobile business, he helped drive mobile sales from 10% to over 50% of all eBay volume. At PayPal, as Head of Strategy & New Ventures he was responsible for PayPal Mobile among other innovations. Prior to that, at Boston Consulting Group, Mr. Harrison worked for a variety of technology, instrument, and financial services clients. Throughout these roles, Mr. Harrison focused on building tech-forward, scalable platform business models to disrupt existing industries.
Mr. Harrison has an M.B.A. from Harvard, where he graduated with Distinction, and has an M.A. in Economics from Washington University, St. Louis.
News, Events & Publications
News:
- May 13, 2020: Asylum Research and Covalent Metrology Collaborate to Promote Industrial Applications of Advanced Atomic Force Microscopy
- May 8, 2020: New Anton Paar Demo Lab Commissioned at Covalent – Learn More this Week on Covalent Academy!
- May 5, 2020: J.A. Woollam and Covalent Metrology Announce Ellipsometry Partnership
- May 1, 2020: Rigaku to Present at Covalent’s Inaugural ‘Advancements in Instrumentation’ Webinar
- Mar. 24, 2020: Essential Businesses and Urgent Samples Update
- Jan. 2, 2020: Hello 2020!
- Dec. 16, 2019: Customer Appreciation Holiday Celebration Recap
- Dec. 10, 2019: Anton Paar and Covalent Metrology announce Broad Collaboration, Silicon Valley Demo Showroom
- Nov. 25, 2019: PVA TePla America and Covalent Metrology Announce Collaboration
- Nov. 5, 2019: Covalent Metrology and Rigaku Extend Partnership with Installation of Advanced X-Ray Characterization Tools at New Facility
- Oct. 2nd, 2019: Covalent Metrology Expands Team, Creates New Technical Groups
- June 27th, 2019: Covalent Metrology Growing Quickly, Expanding Capabilities to Serve Customers
- Feb. 28th, 2019: Covalent Expands Surface Characterization Capabilities with Two New Keyence Instruments
- Feb. 21th, 2019: Dr. Jeffrey Sullivan Joins Covalent Metrology Services as VP, Metrology Partners
- Jan. 9th, 2019: Covalent Metrology Acquires SMT Analytical
- Dec. 12, 2018: Happy Holiday Special Offer
- Nov. 29, 2018: Covalent Metrology to partner with Rigaku to deliver New Semiconductor Lab Resources in Silicon Valley
- Nov. 13, 2018: Covalent Metrology Hires former eBay / PayPal executive as Chief Operating Officer
- Oct. 10, 2018: Covalent Metrology Acquires Advanced High Resolution XRD / XRR System from Rigaku Corporation
- Sept. 18th 2018: Covalent Metrology Announces Collaboration with EDAX, Inc
- Aug. 9th 2018: Covalent Metrology Launches Nanomechanical Characterization Services
- June12th 2018: Covalent Metrology Appoints Technical and Business Leaders to Newly Formed Advisory Board
- May 3rd 2018: Chris Moore joins Covalent Metrology as VP of Technology and Operations
- Apr. 3rd 2018: Covalent Metrology moves operations to a new, larger facility
- Mar. 15th 2018: Covalent Metrology Appoints Tom St. Dennis and Raffi Garabedian to Newly Formed Board of Directors
- Jan. 11th 2018: Dr. Colleen Frazer joins Covalent Metrology to lead XRD / XRR Services
- Dec. 13th 2017: Covalent Metrology Launches XRD / XRR Services
- Sept. 26th 2017: Covalent Metrology Expands Materials Characterization Products and Services
- Aug. 2nd 2017: Covalent Metrology Expands into a New Facility
- Apr. 3rd 2017: Covalent Metrology Aims to Improve Advanced Materials Development with Better Data, Faster, Cheaper
Publications:
Atomic Force Microscopy for Advanced Optical Components
New applications for optical components place ever-higher demands on surface roughness and finish specifications. Current generation atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques provide accurate 3D images with sub-angstrom accuracy in less than a minute. These advancements make AFM ideal for applications requiring more detailed information than available with optical interferometry techniques.
Mid-Range Optical Profilometry: An Overview
Profilometry for surface characterization and dimensioning is a key area of expertise for Covalent Metrology and is proving invaluable to customers across a wide range of applications. At Covalent Metrology, profilometry covers a complete range of surface features using everything from atomic force microscopy (AFM) to optical systems to mechanical stylus systems. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the technology behind each of the three optical profilometry techniques Covalent Metrology offers and to discuss the relative advantages of each of them.
Events:
May. 28, 2020 — NCCAVS Thin Film Users Group (TFUG) Virtual Meeting
2:45 pm: X-Ray Diffraction From the Easy to the Hard
Feb. 4-6, 2020—APEX EXPO IPC 2020
IPC APEX EXPO is the largest event for electronics manufacturing in North America with more than 9,000 professionals from 45 countries.
Dec. 4, 2019—SMTA Silicon Valley Chapter
Covalent Metrology is showcasing it’s failure analysis and materials characterization services to the SMTA community
Nov. 18-19, 2019—IDTechEx Show!
Covalent Metrology is exhibiting at the largest show for energy innovations, Graphene & 2D materials, printed electronics and sensors.
Nov. 5-7, 2019—Microtech Innovation Summit 2019
Craig Hunter, Covalent Metrology CEO, is a Technology Innovation Showcase Presenter on “Metrology and Characterization: Emerging Techniques for MEMS and Sensors Devices.”
Nov. 27-28, 2018—Pangaea Ventures: Advance Materials Commercialization Summit, 2018 (Vancouver, B.C.)
Covalent CEO Craig Hunter is a panelist on the future of the advanced materials industry.
Contact us
- Address: 921 Thompson Place Sunnyvale, CA 94085
- Phone: 408-498-4611
- Fax: 408-709-3201
- hello@covalentmetrology.com