Carina Hahn, who is graduating with combined bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and Kristina Lundgren, a senior, both won $300 in a contest that pitted them against a duo of students from Brigham Young University.
The Tech Talks contest involves students giving 10-minute presentations to IM Flash engineers and university students on a specific topic about technology. Both Hahn and Lundgren gave a presentation about Thin Film Processing, the concept of nanoscale-thin layers of metal or oxides that are deposited on a silicon wafer. IM Flash is a Lehi-based firm that produces NAND flash memory used in devices including smartphones, tablets, digital cameras and solid-state hard drives.
“They were very technical, and they did a lot of research on NAND memory, so they were able to discuss particular issues that we actually see here at IM Flash,” Brad Burns, process and equipment manager for IM Flash, said about the duo’s winning presentation.
IM Flash began Tech Talks in an effort to build relationships with the local universities and to excite engineering students in NAND memory technologies.
“There is an engineering purpose for Tech Talks, but there’s also the relationships we build with the universities and the focus we have on engineering,” said Brian Verwer, director of programs for IM Flash. “It’s about getting people to come to IM Flash and making sure they know who we are and getting them interested in semiconductor manufacturing.”