FREMONT, Calif.--Semiconductor equipment industry veteran Brad Mattson has submitted his resignation as CEO of Mattson Technology Inc. and plans to retire.
The Fremont company, founded by Mattson in 1988, announced the change in management on Monday evening. Brad Mattson, 46, will remain as vice chairman on the company's board of directors, and he will continue to work with the semiconductor equipment supplier on strategic issues, according to Mattson Technology.
Brad Mattson's sudden departure comes nine months after his company tried to grow itself with a difficult three-way merger after acquiring Steag Electronics Systems AG in Essen, Germany, and CFM Technologies Inc. in Exton, Pa. The acquisitions gave Mattson Technology additional tools for rapid-thermal processing (RTP) and wet-wafer cleaning, potentially making the Fremont company the 14th largest supplier of semiconductor equipment in the world (see Jan. 3 story). But the severe industry downturn in 2001 caused huge losses at Mattson Technology while it attempted to digest the larger merger of operations.
The company's directors have appointed David Dutton, president of Mattson's Plasma Division, as acting CEO until a successor is named.
Dutton has been with Mattson Technology for seven years, and he was chief operating officer of the company prior to the three-way merger. Mattson Technology also said Dutton was acting president of the company while Brad Mattson was on a recent sabbatical.
"Now it is time to turn over operating responsibility to the new management team we've put in place over the last year so that I can spend my efforts to focus on strategic issues and pursue outside personal goals that I've delayed for so long," said Mattson in a statement issued Monday evening. Prior to the launch of Mattson Technology in 1998, Brad Mattson was a co-founder of deposition tool supplier Novellus Systems Inc. in San Jose.
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