Leadership & Experience

President and CEO

Richard Comunale formed COSM in October 2011 to address the need for engineering and R&D for process systems in the semiconductor manufacturing equipment industry. Prior to forming COSM, Mr. Comunale was VP of Engineering for Carl Zeiss SMT (Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology) in Peabody, MA. As VP of Engineering at venture funded ALIS Corporation, he led the team that developed the world’s first Helium Ion microscope which achieved a measured helium beam spot size of 0.3nm. Mr. Comunale has over 40 years of continuous experience in developing high vacuum-based electron beam, focused ion beam, and CVD process equipment for the semiconductor industry. Mr. Comunale received a BS degree from The University of Southern California

Chairman of the Board

Dr. Economou was formerly President of Carl Zeiss SMT, North America and a Director of Carl Zeiss SMT, Inc. He co-founded ALIS Corporation, a developer and manufacturer of analytical equipment for the semiconductor, nanotechnology industries that was acquired by Carl Zeiss SMT in July 2006. Before founding ALIS he held many senior management and board roles, including CEO of Confluent Photonics Corporation, chief operating officer of AXSUN Technologies, chief operating officer of FEI Company (FEIC), a manufacturer of production and analytical equipment for the semiconductor and data storage industries and Chairman, President and CEO of Micrion Corporation (MICN), which merged with FEIC in August 1999. Dr. Economou received his B.A. in physics from Dartmouth College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University.

Staff Scientist / CTO

Dr. Hill has over 40 years of experience designing, building, and testing focused ion beam and electron beam tools, primarily focusing on the optics and source technologies. Dr. Hill also has considerable experience in the areas of high voltage power supplies and detector technologies, as they apply to focused beam tools. He has been a key member of numerous teams, developing tools for the semiconductor industry and also the development of the world’s first Helium Ion Microscope and the first environmental scanning electron microscope. Dr. Hill provides technical guidance for product conception and development. Dr. Hill earned a PhD in Engineering from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Dir. Mechanical Engineering

Mrs. Barriss has over 30 years experience designing and developing systems for semiconductor manufacturing including being a key member of the team developing the world’s first Helium Ion Microscope, Mrs. Barriss earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

Dir. Software Engineering

Mr. Ivory has over 30 years’ experience in the semiconductor capital equipment industry including control software for the first Gallium Focused Ion Beam system for Mask Repair and Circuit Edit applications. He was also the president and founder of Tower Concepts, a software company specializing in configuration management software. Mr. Ivory will be responsible for the software tasks associated with concepts for dimensional beam control and imaging for our equipment. Mr. Ivory earned a BS in Computer & Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Sr. Mechanical Engineer

40 year career developing capital equipment for the semiconductor and medical industries, involving robotics, e-beam lithography, ion implantation, and proton therapy.

Sr. Systems Engineer

Experienced with embedded software design patterns, and product industrialization of ASIC-based medical imaging devices in an advanced manufacturing environment.

Equipment Engineer

Four decade career guiding high-tech prototypes through to production systems in focused energy applications for semiconductor and medical equipment.

Mechanical Technician

Extensive experience in all aspects of development, assembly, and installation for mechanical and electronic components for helium ion microscopes and related technologies.

Materials Manager

Comprehensive and broad spectrum career establishing efficient materials management programs at numerous high tech start-ups in the greater Boston area.