Staff

CT Associates has assembled a group of experts who believe in strong customer relationships. They provide the expertise their clients need, eliminating the need for their clients to add to their staff or equipment.

President

Gary Van Schooneveld

Gary Van Schooneveld is President of CT Associates. Gary has 30 years of experience with high-purity fluid systems including chemical delivery and ultrapure water and the development and testing of their associated materials and components. He is the author or co-author of more than 45 technical papers and presentations. Gary is an active member of the IRDS UPW and SEMI UPW Task Forces and has been a key contributor in the development and validation of SEMI specification for measuring filter retention below 15 nm (SEMI C79), particle shedding from critical components (SEMI F104) and extractables ion exchange resin rinse performance (SEMI C93). Gary has BS and MS degrees in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) and an MBA from the University of Texas (Arlington, TX).

Senior Technologist

Mark Litchy

Mark Litchy is a Senior Technologist at CT Associates, where he specializes in particle measurement in high purity liquids and colloidal suspensions as well as aerosols. He has more than 25 years of experience in particle measurement and control in high purity liquid chemicals, microporous membrane filtration and CMP slurry characterization. He is the author or co-author of more than 50 publications and presentations and holds 9 patents. He has a M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN) and a B.A. degree in Physics from St. John’s University (Collegeville, MN).

Corporate Scientist

Larry Zazzera

Larry has 39 years of experience in electronic materials R&D. He received a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Delaware, and a Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry from the University of Minnesota. He has held technical positions in semiconductor equipment and semiconductor materials companies as a direct contributor in analytical science, and as a manager of global applications and development teams. As a CT Associates, Inc. Corporate Scientist, his work enables the detection and speciation of organic nanoparticles and particle precursors.

Principle Investigator

Peter Maenke

Peter Maenke has been a part of CT Associates, Inc. since 2014. In his current role, he plans, leads, and executes customer projects. He works directly with customers throughout project lifecycles, preparing proposals and reports, and serving as a point of contact for technical questions. In addition, Peter provides mechanical engineering support for development projects. He has co-authored several technical papers and presentations. He holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University (Ames, IA).

Engineering Technician

Ben Solberg

Ben Solberg is an Associate Engineer at CT Associates, having joined the team full-time in 2025 after contributing as an intern for four years. He specializes in nanoparticle sizing systems and has plays a key role in the creation and validation of commercial particle standards. His work also includes the automation of particle depositions on wafers, as well as conducting cleanliness testing for valves, fittings, and pumps. He holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University (Ames, IA).

Chemical Technician

John O'Dougherty

John O’Dougherty grew up in Arden Hills, Minnesota, and attended Mounds View High School before earning a B.A. in Geology from the University of Minnesota Morris. Throughout his career, he has focused on solving problems with both customers and coworkers. As a part of the team at CT Associates, he supports various performance and reliability tests—primarily involving filtration and fluid handling components. He helps set up and maintain tests and assists with data analysis.

Facility

Our specialized facility and instrumentation enables us to handle some of the toughest contamination problems under one roof.

2200-ft2 laboratory space

200-ft2 Class 100 cleanroom and two additional clean hoods
450-ft2 Lab with full chemical handling and waste disposal capabilities (acids, bases, slurry)
8-ft wetbench (two bath positions)
Reliability test cabinets (3)

Process fluids

Ultrahigh purity water – TYPE E-1.1 (Resistivity > 18.2 MΩ-cm; TOC < 1 ppb; NVR < 0.1 ppb; Particle concentration < 50 per liter ≥ 100 nm).
High purity chemicals including 49% HF, 37% HCl, 29% NH4OH and 96% H2SO4
Ozonated water
Compressed air
Blanket nitrogen

Analytical Instruments

Multiple liquid-borne optical particle counters capable of measuring particle sizes from (30 nm to 400 μm)
Multiple Liquid Nanoparticle Sizers (LNS) capable of measuring liquid particle size distributions greater than 3 nm
Multiple Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) systems capable of measuring aerosol particle size distributions from 2.5nm to 1000 nm
Multiple Condensation Particle Counters (CPC) capable of measuring aerosol particle concentrations for particle sizes greater than 2.5 nm
Multiple Scanning Threshold Particle Counters (STPC)
Dynamic Light Scattering (3 nm – 1000 μm)
Zeta potential measurement
On-line TOC analyzers
Organic analysis using FTIR spectroscopy
Non-volatile residue monitors
Turbidity, pH, specific ion electrode (multiple), resistivity, surface tension, viscosity, density, mass flow rate