Etching the future: Egbeyemi’s breakthrough sets new benchmark in computation

With the global semiconductor industry in a race to shrink devices to the sub-5 nanometer scale, Egbeyemi’s innovative work on Atomic Layer Etching (ALE) offers an urgently needed breakthrough. His study, titled “Optimizing Atomic Layer Etching Selectivity Using Plasma-Enhanced Surface Passivation and Fluorocarbon Precursor Engineering”, presents a hybrid etching method capable of achieving etch selectivity greater than 50:1—a leap forward in nanoscale precision manufacturing.

“The goal was to make the etching process not just precise, but smart,” Egbeyemi explains. “By integrating plasma surface passivation with engineered fluorocarbon precursors, I’ve created a pathway to selectively remove materials at the atomic scale without compromising the surrounding layers. That’s a game-changer for 3D NAND, DRAM, and FinFET architectures.”

Currently a Process Engineer at Micron Technology in Manassas, Virginia, Egbeyemi has spent the past few years navigating the delicate balance between material science and production-scale efficiency. At Micron, he’s led defect reduction initiatives across complex process nodes, streamlined plasma etch workflows, and partnered cross-functionally to optimize yield.

“In high-volume manufacturing, it’s not enough for a method to work in theory. It has to be scalable, repeatable, and clean,” he says. “My research focuses on building something that can survive both the lab and the fab.”

His Atomic Layer Etching (ALE) technique, detailed in the International Journal of Engineering Technology Research & Management, goes beyond traditional methods by combining real-time diagnostics—like X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and spectroscopic ellipsometry—with reactive molecular dynamics simulations. The result: deeper insights into interface chemistry, stronger control over etching directionality, and minimized surface damage.

Egbeyemi’s contribution is all the more impressive considering his dual track record in academia and industry. He holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toledo and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria. He holds a certificate in Data Science and Machine Learning from Massachussetts Institute of Technology Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, in addition to his Project Management Profession (PMP) certification from Project Management Institute (PMI).
Earlier in his career, he served as a Process Engineer at ExxonMobil in Lagos, Nigeria, where he led optimization and safety audits in gas processing units and introduced control strategies that cut energy use and boosted throughput. Whether refining oil systems or fine-tuning plasma reactions in silicon wafers, Egbeyemi brings a clear theme to his work: data-driven precision meets engineering foresight.

“The beautiful thing about ALE is that it’s not brute-force etching,” he explains. “It’s choreography at the atomic level. Each cycle is calculated, self-limiting, and deliberate. That’s where the future is headed: atomic-scale design, defect-free interfaces, and zero-waste processes.”

His findings couldn’t come at a better time. As Moore’s Law slows and the demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI) chips, mobile processors, and quantum devices accelerates, manufacturers are urgently seeking new approaches to etching that preserve feature fidelity without sacrificing productivity. ALE, particularly the kind Egbeyemi envisions, offers a roadmap that is CMOS-compatible, environmentally conscious, and scalable for future nodes.

“It’s not just about making things smaller,” he says. “It’s about enabling entirely new classes of technology—devices that think, learn, and sense in ways we’ve never seen before.”

With his sharp blend of scientific rigor and real-world application, Oluwadamilola Egbeyemi is positioning himself as a global thought leader in semiconductor process engineering.

And as his research continues to echo through cleanrooms and R&D labs worldwide, one thing is clear: the future of chipmaking might very well be written—one atom at a time.