SOITEC Appoints Industry Veteran George Celler as New Chief Scientist.

PEABODY, Mass., Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ --

SOITEC, the leading manufacturer of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers for use in semiconductor manufacturing, today announced the appointment of 25-year industry veteran George Celler to the newly created position of chief scientist. Reporting to Andrew Wittkower, president of SOITEC USA, Celler is tasked with assisting SOITEC's team, customers and partners with technical and scientific issues and with promoting visibility for the company as it continues its steady ascension.

A former chairman of the IEEE International SOI Conference and an inventor with several patents related to SOI development, Celler brings a wealth of experience to the SOITEC team, affirming the company's commitment to ongoing technology innovation and leadership. "With his broad range of knowledge and expertise, George Celler is the ideal candidate to fill this critical new role in SOITEC's organization," noted Wittkower. "We are delighted to have George on board and look forward to his contribution to SOITEC as we seek to extend our leadership position and forge new opportunities in the growing SOI market. His capabilities complement the current management team, and will help position SOITEC for continued success and increased visibility."

Celler's distinguished career includes 25 years of technical experience with AT&T Bell Laboratories/Lucent Technologies, much of which involved work with SOI material technology. Just prior to his selection by SOITEC, Celler was a distinguished member of technical staff in the High-speed Electronics Department at Lucent spin-off Agere Systems (Murray Hill, N.J.). In this role, he investigated applications of SOI for CMOS and BiCMOS, for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and as a compliant substrate for silicon germanium (SiGe) devices.

A co-organizer of the 2001 Electrochemical Society (ECS) SOI Symposium, Celler is a fellow of both the American Physical Society and the ECS (where he formerly chaired the Electronics Division's executive committee), and is a member of the Technology Working Group on Starting Materials for the International Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). The author of 170 technical papers and editor of five books, Celler holds a M.Sc. degree in physics from the University of Warsaw in Poland and a Ph.D. in physics from Purdue University.

About SOITEC: Silicon-On-Insulator Technologies (SOITEC) is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of SOI wafers. SOITEC provides a broad range of advanced thin-film substrates for IC manufacturing, including bonded SOI UNIBOND(R) and silicon-on-quartz wafers. SOITEC is traded on the French "Nouveau Marche" at the Paris Stock Exchange. Stock index converted into dollars can be consulted on the Internet at: http://www.semindex.org . Additional information is available on the Internet at: http://www.soitec.com .

About UNIBOND: SOI UNIBOND wafers are produced using commercially available equipment with a proprietary process called Smart Cut(R) that uses both ion implantation and wafer bonding technologies. The application of this unique concept enables SOITEC to produce a high-volume product, using standard manufacturing equipment. With its new plant located in Bernin, France, SOITEC now has the world's leading and largest SOI industrial production plant.

NOTE: Smart Cut and UNIBOND are registered trademarks of SOITEC. All others are property of their respective holders.

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