Executive Team

Jeff Chinn, Ph.D.

Founder and CTO

Dr. Chinn founded Integrated Surface Technologies (IST) to develop systems and processes that provide water protection for cell phones by applying super-molecular coatings to their printed circuit boards. Other industries will also benefit by these coatings. Jeff was also the founder of a surface engineering company, which under his leadership sold over 45 systems for MEMS, medical and life science applications. Jeff is a veteran of the semiconductor industry with over 25 years experience. He was the General Manager of the MEMS Business Group at Applied Materials where he headed an internal start-up dedicated to the development of processing equipment for the MEMS industry. He formulated the corporate strategy for Applied Materials’ entry into the MEMS market, performed sales and marketing functions and provided technical direction for the equipment design. Jeff held positions as Director of Technology for the Silicon Etch Division of Applied Materials and had various managerial and technical positions at IDT, Siliconix, Cypress, and Fairchild Camera.

Jeff holds a B.S. from Tufts University in Electrical Engineering and an M.S. & Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University. Dr. Chinn has authored and co-authored over 100 technical publications and has 60 issued US patents.

Fred Helmrich

Vice President of Sales

Fred Helmrich has been in High Tech Systems Sales his entire career. Fred was initially a Sales Engineer at Fairchild Systems and then founded Powell Pendergraph, the East Coast’s largest Manufacturer’s Rep Company for 20 years, where he sold processing and test systems to Bell Labs, ATT/Western Electric, RCA and other semiconductor manufacturers. Fred then moved to the west coast and was a Senior Account Manager at Applied Materials for 15 years where his sales exceeded $500 Million. Fred received over 50 awards from Applied Materials’ CVD, Etch, PVD, Ion Implant, Epi/ Polysilicon and Metrology Divisions for the highest sales in the entire company. As V.P. of Sales at Applied MicroStructures, Fred introduced the startup company to the world, selling surface chemistry technology to Fortune 500 companies.

Fred served four years in the US Air Force, specializing in Air to Air Missile Guidance systems.

Robert Ashurst, Ph.D.

Chief Scientist, Auburn University Partnership

Dr. Ashurst’s research interests are in Micro- and nano- electromechanical systems design, fabrication and reliability; micro- and nano-tribology; molecularly thin film synthesis and design; novel thin film processing; surface science; and semiconductor materials processing. Prof. Ashurst is well known for his work on surface tribology for MEMS. Prof. Ashurst has been working to characterize and improve surface films and has published numerous papers while
at UC-Berkeley. The recent developments have been a result of collaboration between IST and Auburn University, a key technical partner focussed on the characterization of the IST supermolecular coatings.

Rolf Guenther, Ph.D.

Engineering Director

Rolf worked with Jeff and Mark in the Silicon Group at Applied Materials as the Head of Engineering, then rejoined Jeff in two other success stories prior to the reunion at IST. Rolf is instrumental in designing the technology that delivers the supermolecular coatings, including the entire Vaporrix liquid delivery system and the RPX 550 system. His long technical career of 42 years spans the aerospace industry (including space systems), semiconductor capital equipment, TFT Display equipment, and nano-tech coating equipment prior to engaging his talents at IST. His past projects range from supercollider technology, rocket boosters for the Apollo program, and the first thermal management system for silicon etch electrostatic chucks–an industry standard today.

Rolf graduated from Purdue University, and earned his Ph.D. from Stanford University in Mechanical Engineering. Rolf has co-authored over 30 issued patents, and has particular expertise in thermal management, fluid mechanics, and system design.