About
Averatek Corporation is a high tech company based in Santa Clara, CA that provides custom design services and patterned flexible circuit board materials manufactured through the use of an innovative, proprietary process.
Averatek’s additive metal “print and plate” technology can create metal lines/spacing widths below 10 microns and deposit copper to a thickness level from a few nanometers to tens of microns. The additive feature of this technology allows the direct deposition of copper on flexible substrates in the pattern specified by the circuit design artwork without tie coat, adhesive, etching, or waste of copper.
Averatek technology is superior in performance, line/spacing widths, and cost to (1) subtractive etch processes that use chemicals to remove copper and other materials to reveal metal patterns and (2) conductive inks used in direct circuit printing methods.
Our History
Averatek Corporation was founded by SRI International, a global contract research and development institution and a team of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who have a long history in specialty metal plating businesses and products for companies in the computer, storage, and automation industries. SRI was part of Stanford University as the Stanford Research Institute from 1946 until 1970 when it became an independent non-profit contract research firm. Scientists at SRI invented and patented the technology that is at the heart of the Averatek process.
Meet The Team
Haris Basit
CEO
Haris joined Averatek as its CEO on August 1, 2017.
Haris has been involved in both large and early-stage companies. He has a proven ability to innovate and drive technologies into new markets; build and lead world class management teams; develop strategic relationships and partnerships with corporations and government agencies; drive high margin growth in revenues; attract substantial investment on favorable terms from private and institutional investors; and creatively position a company for a successful sale.
He was most recently CEO at VIASPACE, an alternative energy company. He has also recently been founder or co-founder of several successful technology based companies. From 2004 to 2012 he was co-founder and CEO at Multigig, a fabless semiconductor company which developed a new methodology for creating and building electronic circuits. He successfully grew revenue and profits, and led the sale of the company to Analog Devices. He also created a separate company based upon the Multigig technology which entered into licensing agreements for the technology in defined markets. He had previously been VP- Business development at OEA International, which created design automation software for the integrated circuit market. He has also had senior level experience at Lucent Technologies (Bell Labs division); Rockwell International (semiconductor manufacturing); and at IBM (IBM Research Labs).
Haris has a Master’s degree in electrical engineering, as well as a BS, from the University of Illinois. He resides in California. He has also been an Advisor and Board member to several early stage companies and non-profit organizations.
Mike Vinson
President and COO
Mike has been managing the Averatek business on a day to day basis since 2012. Prior to joining Averatek he was with SRI as a program manager in it’s Princeton, NJ operation. He had previously been Director of Business Development at Universal Instruments, a manufacturer of advanced automation and assembly equipment solutions for the electronics manufacturing industry.
Mike has also been involved in Operations Management and Business Development at Kulicke and Soffa, Max Levy and at Avo Photonics. Mike spent a considerable amount of time earlier in his career at Texas Instruments, where he was involved in Process Development.
Mike has also been involved in Business Development at Kulicke and Soffa, Max Levy and at Avo Photonics. Mike spent a considerable amount of time earlier in his career at Texas Instruments, where he was involved in Applications and Process Development.
Mike received a BS in Engineering from Texas Tech University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Sunity Sharma, Ph.D.
Chief Technology Officer and Chief Scientist
Dr. Sharma is the inventor of the principal Averatek technology. He invented the technology and related processes while at SRI International, and then joined Averatek upon formation of the company. Prior to Sunity joining Averatek, he was a scientist with SRI International for over 20 years where he worked on a variety of diverse projects.
Sunity is the author of several patents and publications and has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Panjab University.
Kurt Buseck
CFO and Chairman
Kurt has over 30 years of experience as a principal in investments and a successful investment record. Buseck’s extensive investment management experience ranges from work on Wall Street, in venture capital investments, and in private equity. His recent investments have been undertaken at his own firm, Full Circle Investments.
He began his career at General Electric Capital Corporation, where he was a founding member of Acquisition Funding Corporation. Kurt was then a founding member of the Principal Investments Group at Bear Stearns & Companies. He later joined Onex Corporation, the largest private equity firm based in Canada; he was Managing Director of U.S. Operations at Onex.
Kurt formed Full Circle Investments to undertake leveraged acquisitions of small to medium sized companies. FCI sponsored the acquisition of 14 companies, which it then repositioned and grew. After successfully exiting these portfolio companies FCI began investing into early stage technology based companies in the U.S. and Europe. These companies have been involved with a broad spectrum of technologies.
Kurt holds a BA in Economics from Boston College and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He serves on the Board of several private companies and numerous civic organizations.
Shinichi (Steve) Iketani
Director of Product and Applications Development
Steve has worked in the printed circuit board (PCB) business for more than 30 years. Starting with PCB materials and processes development for 10+ years at Panasonic. His work helped to bring Resin Coated Copper (RCC) into the market some of which were used for the first-generation cellular phones and laptop PC motherboards. Also, Steve demonstrated a build up PCB that utilized thin liquid dielectric coating at IPC EXPO 1997. This PCB was made with the first stepper type exposure unit and achieved 50/50 micron trace/space feature sizes for making ASIC package substrates with over 3000 I/O which was the state-of-the-art at that time. He reviewed and applied new materials and processes for the PCB fabrication business for 15+years at Sanmina. He also developed new PCB processes and filed more than 10 patents world-wide. His expertise covers PCB laminate materials, PCB fabrication process related materials, chemicals and equipment, failure and root cause analysis, material and process development, high speed digital board design tool and data, IP management, and market analysis. Steve has a Master’s from the Department of Applied Chemistry at Osaka University’s Graduate School of Engineering and a Bachelors in Applied Chemistry from Himeji Institute of Technology.
Divyakant Kadiwala
Director of Manufacturing
Divyakant has worked in technology startups for over 15 years. His experience includes a wide range of industries from Roll-to-Roll Flex-circuit Materials, Electronics packaging, Nano-coatings, Solar Modules, Anti-counterfeiting labels, Color-Shifting Paint Pigments and Roll-to-Roll Vacuum Coating. At Averatek, his work spans across multiple disciplines including Engineering, Process Development, Manufacturing, Business development and Facilities. He played a major role in installing and commissioning roll-to-roll coating and plating lines for commercializing Averatek’s atomic layer ink deposition technology. He helped establish the process for fine line traces that can be as low as 5/5 micron trace/space. He is a champion of continuous improvement and lead-time reduction. He is currently heading the productization of Averatek’s surface treatment chemistry.
Prior to joining Averatek, he has held engineering and management roles at Applied Materials, Solopower and Miasole – companies that built flexible and rigid solar modules. Prior to that, he spent 5 years at Viavi Solutions (JDS Uniphase), a company that manufactured color-shifting paint pigments and anti-counterfeiting labels.
Divyakant has a Master’s degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Mumbai.
