1. Billy Elliott
PRODUCT ENGINEERING and CHARACTERIZATION SR MANAGER
Innovative and accomplished leader, with extensive expertise in RF Engineering and Testing, Engineering
Management, Project Management, and Yield Improvement. Skilled at recruiting, hiring, and training of technical
professionals. Past experience base also includes RF design engineering and RF testing. Proficient at improving
processes to maximize the contributions of each individual and of the team. Focused on the bottom line financial
impact of engineering decisions.
CORE COMPETENCIES / KEYWORDS
Engineer BSEE RF Design Test
High Volume Six Sigma Yield Improvement Greenbelt Quality
Recruiting Hiring Leadership Mentoring Power Amplifier
Product Engineering JMP Excel FET GaAs / GaN
Project Management Budget Schedule Microsoft Office Process
Spectrum Analyzer Telecom Semiconductor Network Analyzer Wafer probe
Financial P&L Planning Device Verification Failure Analysis
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
QORVO, Greensboro, NC (2015 – Present)
Qorvo is merged company between RFMD, Inc. and Triquint Semiconductor
Sr. Manager, IDP Connectivity Characterization and Software Automation
Responsible for Engineering Verification (Characterization) and Software Automation for the newly formed
Connectivity Business Unit
RFMD, Inc., Greensboro, NC (June 2000 – Dec 2014)
Sr. Manager, MPG Wireless Connectivity, Product Engineering, Device Verification, and Software
Automation (since 2005): Responsible for Product Engineering, Device Verification (Characterization), and Test
Automation Software for the startup Wireless Connectivity Business Unit.
Product Engineering:
• Leads yield improvement efforts across the manufacturing process of assigned products and provide yield
plans to meet company yield targets
• Provides thorough data analysis on each key design revision during product development and identifies
key parameters for improvement
• Performs Design of Experiments to save on build costs and help reduce design iterations to meet
customer specifications
• Ensures data accuracy through correlation between test platforms and maintains product history and
documentation
• Develops test plans for prototype and production electrical testing of wafers and/or packaged devices.
• Supports Design engineering and QA on product qualifications, failure analysis, customer returns and
second source vendor approval
• Serves as the central technical resource with design, process, manufacturing, test, quality and marketing
as the product(s) move to completion and distribution
• Lead the Customer 8D (8 Disciplines of problem solving) /RDA (Request for Device Analysis) Process,
working with all relevant groups to meet customer related needs
• Model the costing of the entire product manufacturing flow and work with the various teams on planning,
implementing cost reductions and quality improvement activities on these products

2. • Interpret fab, probe, final test and failure analysis data to improve yield and quality issues
• Communicate with the various internal and external customers in regard to quality and any product
related issues
• Knowledge of data and statistical analysis
• Proficiency using statistical analysis software (e.g., JMP)
• Proficiency using SQL databased application development
• Solid analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Self-starter and team player
• Partner with Research and Development Engineers to ensure the reliability of new wafer fabrication
techniques and processes, new silicon devices and new packaging platforms
• Partner with Failure Analysis Engineers to understand the physics of failures on IC products
Device Verification:
• Development of verification plans that identify and prioritize verification requirements based on
architecture, design and marketing documents
• Development, documentation and presentation in reviews of verification strategy, schedule, detailed test
plans and results
• Design and implementation of stimulus, checking and functional-coverage components of test benches to
verify the requirements
• Application of formal methodologies and techniques to verify requirements that are a good fit for these
approaches
• Direct interface with Design, Management, Verification and other teams to resolve issues and achieve
verification closure
• Lead the planning, evaluation and deployment of new methodologies and flows used by the Verification
and Design teams to continuously improve project results
Design Lab and Software Automation:
• Lead team of Software Engineers to develop and maintain bench automation software for a variety of
wireless communication applications
• Planned software platform which includes automation of all design/applications engineering and device
verification modules. Includes automated data collection, data analysis, and reporting tools
• Automation software deployed to more than 50 benches in multi-city locations
• Lead efforts to standardize bench equipment (including signal generators, signal analyzers, power
meters, power supplies)
3 Promotions within Product Engineering (2006 – 2013): Joined RFMD as an individual contributor, Product
Engineer. Awarded 3 successive progressions & promotions (from Sr. Engineer, to Group Leader and finally to
Senior Manager of Product Engineering) within 8 years. Hired and trained a winning team staffed with 9-12
Engineers/Technicians in Greensboro, plus dotted-line support from 5 more Engineers in Beijing China.
Proactively directed changes to test plans (including breaking out alternate-spec parts), PCM blocking, wafer
probe, and used other techniques to reduce costs while improving product quality and maintaining continuity of
supply.
• My PE team used data-driven analysis to drive production test yields to >95%, Created a yield rollup
methodology to enable normalizing overall product yields for product mix, with direct interaction with the
Design Engineers highlighting out-of-expected yield conditions proactively. Drove continuous
improvement to the yield reporting tool set, for example implemented “failure signatures” to augment the
industry standard “failure Pareto”.
• Promoted my vision of the PE’s having a greater contribution to the entire design process, a step beyond
their historical role. Elevated PE corporate visibility. Championed corporate adoption of PE related
“design for yield” activities, including “target spec analysis” and “capability analysis” after each design

3. iteration, gage study, etc. Provided DOE training so that PE’s could do bond wire optimizations, multi-
dimensional PCM analysis, etc.
• Through training and mentoring, developed a leadership pipeline which built stronger group leaders and
allowed successful hiring of junior level Engineers for more recent openings.
TDP Electronics, Swanannoa NC (1996 – 2000)
Design and manufacturing division of Radio Shack, Tandy Distributor Products designed and manufactured
television and cable amplifiers, antenna designs, and custom power supply products.
Sr. Design Engineer: Designed television and cable amplifier products, power supply products, antenna designs
for consumer use. Lead design group to design and manufacture over 30 commercial products sold in Radio
Shack stores.
Entry Electronics / SDX Electronics, Asheville, NC (1994 – 1996)
Entry Electronics designed optical and magnetic card access systems used in hotels and other businesses. SDX
was parent company that provided full electronic manufacturing and design engineering support.
Design Engineer: Provided technical leadership for next generation magnetic card entry systems used in hotel
security. Interfaced directly with software designers and manufacturing engineers, Lead technical teams for
installation, training, and technical support for installation of systems. Wrote the technical design specifications for
entire system.
Education
Bachelor of Science Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC, 1993
Master of Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC, 1999
Certifications and Training
Employee Management Series Part 1 Situational Leadership, RFMD, Inc. 2014
Employee Management Series Part 2 Leading Change; Splash Performance, RFMD, Inc. 2014
Passing-the-Baton Leadership Training Courses. RFMD, Inc. 2012
Finance and Accounting for non-finance managers; UNCG 2011
Effective Technical and Marketing Presentations; RFMD, Inc. 2009