Apex Microdevices

Dr. Michael Liao, Chief Technology Officer, Apex Microdevices

Michael Evan Liao is a Chief Technology Officer at Apex Microdevices and guest research at University of California Los Angeles. Dr. Liao received his B.S. degree in Chemistry (2017), B.A. degree in Ethnomusicology Jazz Performance (2017), M.S. degree in Chemistry (2017), and Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering (2022) at the University of California Los Angeles. His research aims to develop commercial-compatible solutions towards fabricating composite wafers via wafer bonding of various semiconductor materials including, but not limited to, β- Ga2O3, SiC, and LiNbO3. He received the IUCr Young Scientist Award in 2019 issued by the International Union for Crystallography at the ICCGE-19/OMVPE-19 conference and also the Best Student Paper Award in 2018 at the AiMES 2018 conference (Electrochemical Society). Dr. Liao joined Apex Microdevices after his tenure as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC. He has over 100 peer-reviewed journal publications and 1 WO patent (WO2025188383A2).

 

Topic:

Engineered Composite Substrates for Heterogeneous Integration

 

Abstract:

Apex Microdevices aims to provide the all-in-one, application-tailored solution for the production of heterogeneously integrated engineered composite substrates via wafer bonding for a broad scope of materials including silicon carbide, lithium niobate, beta-gallium oxide, diamond, GaAs and other III-V’s. We continuously develop flexible processes for fabricating thin-film composite substrates (e.g., TFLN,thin-film gallium oxide on SiC, etc.) depending on the user needs and restrictions. Most notably at Apex Microdevices, we demonstrate direct bonded interfaces for various combinations of materials without relying on bonding interlayers. In cases where an interlayer is part of device design (e.g., a dielectric layer), we can seamlessly incorporate an interlayer(s) in our process out of device necessity and not as a crutch to fabricating bonded structures. Furthermore, we also specialize in chemical mechanical polishing of a diverse roster of materials ranging from soft phase-changing semiconductors to diamond.

 

Key Technologies Covered:

  •  Heterogeneous integration via Wafer Bonding 
  • Chemical Mechanical Polishing 
  • Compound Semiconductors and Diamond 
  • Thin-film Lithium Niobate (TFLN)