MATHESON

The Gas Professionals

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Meet David, Our April Employee Spotlight

In honor of National Welding Month, we are highlighting David, an Outside Sales Support Specialist at MATHESON. He has been with MATHESON for six years, since January 2017.

David’s welding experience started with his grandfather and uncle, both welders, and his father, who owned a fabrication shop. He attended a local vocational school to learn welding in 2001 and worked for his father’s shop after high school.

David’s experience as a welder allowed him to transition into outside sales support. He started with a gas company, during the recession in 2008. His current role at MATHESON is unique, involving technical support and assisting sales representatives with welding procedures. David is also studying to become a certified welding inspector (CWI) to expand his expertise further.

David’s job responsibilities vary daily, but his tasks may include preparing sales quotes, assisting weld process specialists, and setting up welding cobots. Despite the varied workload, David enjoys the challenge and is always ready for new opportunities.

When David isn’t working, he enjoys spending his time running marathons. David tries to run about five or six half marathons each year. A few years back, David wanted to find a fun way to exercise, and what originally started out as a good way to stay in shape led to one of his favorite hobbies. David also enjoys working on dirt bikes on his time away; he likes fixing vintage bikes and occasionally riding them.

David’s passion for welding led him to his current role and continues to be a driving force in his career. His expertise and experience have been invaluable to MATHESON and its customers. Are you looking for a career at MATHESON? 

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Moore’s Law and MATHESON

Moore’s Law is the observation that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles every two years. Named after Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and former CEO of Intel, Moore’s thoughts in 1965 were less of a measurement, and more of a challenge to the industry for the pace of future developments.

It was Caltech professor Carver Mead who popularized the term “Moore’s Law” in the late 70’s, when it became a shared competitive goal among players in the semiconductor manufacturing space. Since 1975, the goals pioneered by Moore’s thoughts have largely stood up. Those of us who are old enough remember the computers of the 80’s, the cell phones of the 90’s and the iPhone of 2007.  Each was a breakthrough in its day, and each is woefully inadequate today. That is Moore’s Law at work.

Another way to state Moore’s law is that every two years, the size of the transistors in integrated circuits is cut in half. Today’s transistors sizes are just a few nanometers (a nanometer is roughly 10 atoms across) and ten thousand transistors lined up side by side are less than the width of a human hair. With such small sizes, it is easy to imagine how any small imperfection could ruin an entire microchip. 

For people in the semiconductor manufacturing business, MATHESON needs no introduction. MATHESON has been supporting the semiconductor fab business with our ultrapure products for decades. MATHESON has worked, and evolved, side-by-side with technology innovators in both academia and industry. As the transistor sizes have shrunk, we have produced gas products at higher purities with tighter specifications to enable higher fabrication precision, smaller scale, and fewer defects. These include pure and dopant mixtures, etchants, process gases, new materials, purification technology and gas handling equipment. A good example is MATHESON’s  Etch 5 Grade SiCl4 which was developed to reduce “first wafer” scrap that customers experienced with standard SiCl4 due to variable etch rates. The Etch 5 Grade SiCl4 dramatically reduced or eliminated first wafer scrap by providing a much more stable etch rate.  

MATHESON has also developed new analytical methods to allow for the detection of the most miniscule impurities to allow for the extremely clean and pure gases that the ever shrinking transistors require. 

The R&D team in MATHESON’s Advanced Technology Center in Longmont, Colorado has achieved a milestone in purifier capability to remove Total Organic Contamination (TOC) in inert gas. The R&D team has developed a NANOCHEM® purifier, INX-Plus™, that removes hydrocarbons to less than 426 ppq (parts per quadrillion). A ppq is 1×10-15. The INX-Plus™ purifier was used in gas phase argon and demonstrated that Xylene could be removed down to 426 ppq when challenged with 100 ppb of the hydrocarbon. These levels are difficult to achieve due to the complex interactions that are necessary for the impurity to be removed at these levels as well as the sophisticated analytical techniques that had to be developed in order to measure such low levels.

At MATHESON we consider ourselves to be partners in the development of advanced integrated circuits, not simply suppliers. Let MATHESON help you achieve the future advances required to continue Moore’s Law.

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Meet Marie, Our March Employee Spotlight

In honor of International Women’s Month, we are highlighting Marie, the Remote Operations Center (ROC) Manager at MATHESON. She has been with MATHESON since March 2022 and is responsible for managing the operations of our air separation plants, ensuring 24/7 monitoring and quick response to any issues that arise.

My favorite part about being the ROC Manager is that there is never a dull moment…

Marie

After graduating with a Chemical Engineering Degree, Marie began working in the industrial gas industry. She started as a Plant Engineer and then worked tenaciously not only in her career but went back to school for her master’s in business.  

Marie enjoys the excitement of troubleshooting the different plants and finds her job challenging yet rewarding. Though she misses being out in the field, Marie loves the big picture aspect of her current role, which allows her to assist and help all of MATHESON’S plants. “My favorite part about being the ROC Manager is that there is never a dull moment, you never know which plant will have troubleshooting issues”. 

Since Marie has been a Plant Manager herself, she says it’s very rewarding now to be supporting plant managers in the field and try to make their lives easier. One of those ways is an Air Separation Unit (ASU) bootcamp class that she developed and teaches out of the Irving Plant. Marie believes that the best career lesson she has learned is always to keep an open mind and never stop learning. This week-long course highlights her passion for learning and teaching others.  

When Marie isn’t monitoring MATHESON’S Air Separation Plants, she has a love for playing the violin. Marie has been playing the violin since she was in elementary school, and continues to play with the Mesquite Symphony Orchestra. “Playing the violin has definitely helped my mental health, for the length that I’ve been playing it’s simply muscle memory for me”.

Marie is a great example of a successful woman in the field of engineering.  She has achieved great things and continues to challenge herself daily. Her passion and desire to help those around her makes her a fantastic asset to MATHESON. We are proud to have her as a part of our team, and she serves as an inspiration for other women looking to work in the STEM field.  

Do you want to work for MATHESON?

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More Efficient Cell Therapy Cryo-Storage Solution

MATHESON’s biotechnology team recently collaborated with a leading research hospital to develop an efficient system for handling and storing cell samples. The FDA requires that cell samples be maintained at a temperature below -150⁰ C while in storage and requires that the hospital track and maintain accurate records of all freezers in the cryobank. 

MATHESON’s team installed a universal tank switcher with a fully automated manifold connected to the Dewars of liquid nitrogen supplying the cell storage freezers.  The universal tank switcher allows liquid nitrogen to be pulled from one Dewar, and then switched to a new Dewar once the original Dewar is emptied, thus ensuring a continuous supply of liquid nitrogen. The system also provides remote access to a cloud-based system for better monitoring and oversight and features an alert mechanism at the first indication of an issue.

The efficiency of the new system has reduced the amount of liquid nitrogen consumption by 30% thus decreasing the number of needed deliveries which equates to a decrease in CO2 emissions and an increase in fuel economy for the delivery vehicles…

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Meet Samantha, Our February Employee Spotlight

As we start the new year at MATHESON, we begin this year’s Employee Spotlight by highlighting Hub Plant Manager Samantha in Tualatin, Oregon. She started with MATHESON twelve years ago in Newark, California as a lab technician after obtaining a Chemistry and Biology degree. 

Ultimately being promoted to the Production Manager in Newark, she continued to utilize her knowledge and skill before being promoted to Hub Plant Manager in Tualatin in 2021. She continues to fill a vital role for the MATHESON team by managing and supporting her plant, overseeing canister transfers and gas fillings for stores throughout the State, along with product shipments to MATHESON stores within Oregon, Alaska, and Washington State.  

To women looking to join our field: Go for it. Continue pushing forward, and you can make it happen. We need more women in the industry, which our current generation is working to achieve.

Samantha

“My job includes ensuring that our employees are safe, products are shipped, and everything runs smoothly. It can be challenging, but I like problem-solving and the satisfaction that follows efficiently completing a task,” Samantha said.

She says she is glad to have such a willingly supportive team, “What I like most about my job is the people. Having supportive and hardworking team members to depend upon is something for which I am grateful.” 

Samantha encourages men and women to explore the many opportunities for advancement MATHESON has to offer while exuding positivity for women looking to join our industry. 

“To women looking to join our field: Go for it. Continue pushing forward, and you can make it happen. We need more women in the industry, which our current generation is working to achieve.” 

When Samantha is not working, she loves being outdoors, kayaking, camping, and hiking with her husband and pets. Besides exploring the local nature of Oregon, she and her husband are also avid travelers. She noted that she and her husband like to “Visit one new place each year.” She has been all over the World, from Iceland to Bali, noting that the latter is one of her favorite places.

If you ever find yourself camping in the Oregon wilderness, then be on the lookout for Samantha.   If you are interested in learning more about MATHESON’s career opportunities, click below:

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