Willow Grove, PA - Albert Soffa, co-founder of Kulicke & Soffa Industries and pioneer of the first wire bonder, died on Sunday.  He was 84.
 
An engineering maverick who helped shape today's modern IC packaging industry, Soffa formed a partnership with Frederick W. Kulicke, Jr. in 1951, which eventually became Kulicke & Soffa Industries.
 
"Al Soffa was one of the true pioneers in the development of modern semiconductor equipment," noted K& S chairman and CEO Scott Kulicke. "Through his innovation with my father, they introduced the first manual and automatic wire bonders, which opened the doors to the manufacture of more advanced IC technology."
 
Soffa earned a BS from Drexel University in Mechanical Engineering and a MS in ME from Harvard in 1945.  He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Spring Garden College in 1982.  He met Frederick Kulicke while working as a patent engineer at Proctor Electric in Valley Forge, PA. The pair began moonlighting together as machinery builders and, eventually, formed a partnership.
 
The company originally engineered and built large specialty machines, but made a name for itself in the semiconductor industry when it developed a machine for Bell Labs that could make transistors (the first wire and die bonder).
 
Soffa became president of K&S in 1962, and rose to the rank of chairman in 1967. In 1985, he earned the SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Institute) award for contributions to the advancement of wire bonding technology.
 
When he retired from the company in 1986 and the board in 1992, Soffa remained active in professional, educational and philanthropic organizations. 
 
In a statement, Scott Kulicke expressed that  "Al will be missed, both within the company and throughout the semiconductor industry."