Ken Collins is appointed vice president of Disruptive Technology and Engineering for the Semiconductor Products Group. He first joined the company in 1984 as a radio frequency electrical engineer on the team that developed the Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) and Etch 5000, and later high-density plasma Etch and CVD products.

n 1993, Mr. Collins received the Dan Maydan “Innovation and Commercialization into Products” award and in 1997, he was named an Applied Materials Fellow. From 2002 through 2005 he led development of the P3i (plasma immersion ion implantation) product. In 2006, he rejoined Etch and led the team that conceived of and developed the Centris™ Sym3™ Etch chamber. He currently is responsible for the development of plasma source and chamber technology.

Mr. Collins has received 221 issued U.S. patents and earned his bachelor's degree in Mathematics and master’s degree in Engineering (electromagnetics / plasma and thermal / fluids) from San Jose State University.