Sridhar Mahendrakar, a seasoned professional with more than 12 years of experience in Technology Development and High-Volume Manufacturing (HVM) semiconductor fabrications, has earned one of the highest accolades in the scientific community. In September 2023, he was duly elected as a full member of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, the world’s largest and most esteemed general research honor society.
Currently a senior manager in R&D Engineering at Western Digital Corp, Sridhar oversees and drives critical functions within the metrology department. He is responsible for activities aimed at ensuring precision, accuracy, and efficiency in measurement processes vital to product development and quality assurance. Additionally, he has led pioneering strategic initiatives by designing experiments, analyzing results, and recommending corrective actions, crucial for advancing metrology processes vital to cutting-edge memory technology. He has also led engineering projects employing structured problem-solving methodologies, optimizing manufacturability, quality, and cost-effectiveness of metrology solutions for cross point memory projects, reinforcing a critical role in technological advancements.
Sridhar’s successful management of teams and expert allocation of resources has enabled him to maximize efficiency and innovation in his field. His deep expertise in Metrology Technology Development (TD) is evident in his contributions to TD Roadmap definitions, equipment evaluations, capacity planning, and new process qualifications, which have been instrumental in shaping the future of metrology in the semiconductor field.
He has also worked at Intel, IBM Research and Global Foundries in leading and critical roles developing metrology solutions for next generation technologies At Intel, he was a Technology Development Engineering manager overseeing metrology development for Intel Optane Memory. working on developing metrology solutions for complex 3D cross point memory manufacturing process leading to high volume manufacturing.
In his previous role as a program manager at Quantumscape Corporation, he applied his expertise in optical metrology equipment, which led to meeting quality, cost, and delivery milestones. Sridhar also held significant roles in the past at leading semiconductor companies
Sridhar has authored/co-authored approximately ten publications and holds three U.S. patents in Optical Metrology and Hybrid Metrology. These accomplishments contributed to his election as a full member to the Honor Society, which requires nominees to go through a rigorous process. The Society evaluates candidates based on career preparation, career path, quality of research, and other factors, ensuring that full members exemplify excellence in the field.
This international society is known for its commitment to recognizing and supporting the most exceptional researchers. It is a multidisciplinary organization dedicated to research scientists and engineers and has an
illustrious history with over 200 members who have received the Nobel Prize, and countless more who have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering.
He is also a cited Google Scholar and has presented talks and posters at several industry conferences over the past seven years on topics such as Optical Metrology solutions, Scatterometry-based metrology for SAQP pitch walking using virtual reference, and Hybrid enabled thin film metrology using XPS and optical.
Sridhar holds a Master of Science, Materials Science and Engineering, from the University of North Texas and a Bachelor of Technology, Metallurgy and Materials Technology, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, in Hyderabad, India.
