Outlook Magazine - Fall 2018

Business smarts Alumnus’ company designs, builds high-tech equipment to help make semiconductors

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raig Bichrt happened to stay an extra semester at UW-Stout while earning his bachelor’s degree in industrial technology with an emphasis in mechanical design, picking up minors in physics and mathematics before graduating in December 1982. The minor in physics turned out to be life-changing, allowing Bichrt to get into making equipment used to deposit materials on wafers, the raw material for semiconductor devices. Semiconductors are key components in many items we use daily, including cell phones, DVD players, LED lighting, infrared noncontact thermometers, solar cells or anything with solid-state electronics. The U.S. government develops and produces special- ized semiconductors for its projects such as infrared technology used in night-vision goggles, components for space satellites, wireless technologies and more. After he finished a master’s degree in management technology at UW-Stout in 1989, Bichrt started working at Twin Cities-based EPI, a startup high-tech company. He was an executive vice president when he left after four years to start his own company, E-Science, in 1993 in Hudson, Wis., that does much of the same work. His product lines consist primarily of effusion cells, the equipment that very precisely deposits materials onto the wafers. Other prod- ucts include substrate heaters and gas injectors along with other components. “We do a lot of specials, designs that haven’t been created before,” Bichrt said, noting he does the product design and manufacturing. The parts are machined at outside shops from ultra-pure and expensive refractory metals that he purchases. The components are then cleaned, assembled and tested in the E-Science clean room. “When I worked for a bigger company, what I did was more administrative work. It was not the reason I went to school. I wanted to be in the thick of things. I wanted to be involved in the design part of it.” Bichrt’s customers across the world include universities and electronics companies as well as the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and national laboratories and defense contractors. Yet he has opted to keep E-Science small with two or three employees. As owner and president, he loves working directly with customers. Bichrt says his best sales tool is when he works with university students, and when they are professionals they come back to E-Science for equipment. “We provide equipment that is clean and ready to install onto the customer’s growth chamber. Our customers expect our equipment

Craig Bichrt owns the company E-Science in Hudson. He creates unique products for those in research and development at universities, electronics companies and defense companies.

Valved Titan effusion cell

to grow material uniformly across their wafer, and the material should be virtually defect-free,” he said. Growing up in Phillips, Bichrt originally planned to attend a technical college to study architecture. His uncle, Al May, of Menomonie, then assistant superintendent at the Menomonie school district, persuaded his nephew to visit UW-Stout. May talked to Bichrt about the advantages of having a university degree. “I thought UW-Stout was a good fit for him,” said May, an UW-Stout alumnus. “I encourage a lot of people all the time to go to UW-Stout. I am very proud of him and what he has accomplished.” “I just enjoyed the school and the people,” said Bichrt, who with his spouse, Linda, has three grown children and three grandchildren. “It was a good part of my life. It was memorable, meaningful and impactful.”

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