Sunday 14 May 2017

Sven Lindfors (1945-2017) in memoriam

Sven Lindfors, "Svenkka", pioneer of ALD, in memoriam

Sven Lindfors, "Svenkka", a core pioneer of an atomic layer deposition (ALD), born November 25, 1945, passed away April 15, 2017 in Espoo, Finland. An obituary written by Tuomo Suntola and coworkers was published in the main Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat today.  



I had the honour to cross paths with Sven Lindfors several times during our careers, first as a young master's thesis worker at Microchemistry Ltd. (1998) and later (2004-) as a research scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. At VTT in 2004, it was my pleasant task to take into use the ALD reactor that VTT had bought from Sven Lindfors's company Picosun. The reactor was the first of its kind and was installed in the Micronova clean room, where it is still used, along with newer reactors installed later. Back at that time, Picosun had two employees. Today, thirteen years later, Picosun personnel counts over forty and Picosun itself has become a global brand.



Sven Lindfors was a visionary, composed of sunshine and thunder. As I knew Svenkka, for him, no need related to ALD reactors ever passed unsolved.
While mine and Svenkka's backgrounds were very different, common to us was a love for ALD and a curiosity to understand. These, combined with mutual respect, made our encounters very inspiring. I will remember Svenkka with great warmth, grateful for the collaboration and for his great contribution in making ALD what it is today. 

Riikka Puurunen, Espoo, Finland, May 14, 2017

Further links:



updated 15.8.2017 for republication of Picosun News item

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Virtual Project on the History of ALD (VPHA) - in atmosphere of Openness, Respect, and Trust

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