Meet Booz Allen's Microelectronics Experts

Microelectronic components are essential to nearly every aspect of modern society, from powering our phones to handling our most sensitive medical data; and they enable an ever-broadening set of services and business models for economic growth and improved quality of life.

The semiconductor industry is now at a critical inflection point that may significantly reshape the ecosystem and cause system developers to face new opportunities and challenges in developing secure, high-performing systems. Booz Allen’s microelectronics practice is bringing expertise and insights into how semiconductors are sourced, designed, manufactured, and protected.  

Since the early 2000s, Booz Allen has been involved in the microelectronics sector, using its deep knowledge in design, security, regulatory compliance, and more to help commercial and government clients develop and deploy solutions and capitalize on the latest technology capabilities.

Booz Allen’s microelectronics team is a one-stop shop, helping government, the private sector, and manufacturers decide: 

• Technologies needed for their mission
• How to build them
• Where to buy raw materials, finished products, and everything in between
• How to manage risk and integrate microelectronics along the way
• How to plan for a future of continued supply chain disruption and digital transformation 

Here, five microelectronics experts discuss why it’s a transformative time for the sector and how Booz Allen is leading the way to help clients understand, plan, and thrive.

Senior Lead Engineer Saverio Fazzari, who is also the firm's technical fellow for microelectronics, leads market strategy, capability development, and stakeholder engagement, providing semiconductor expertise across Booz Allen’s federal, commercial, academic, and research microelectronics efforts. “Recent investments in the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem—such as the CHIPS Act with $52 billion to address domestic microelectronics manufacturing—are poised to reshape the microelectronics supply chain, fusing intellectual property (IP), design, verification, and fabrication into a streamlined flow,” says Saverio.

Senior Associate Doug Palmer executes strategy and coordinates projects across more than 150 microelectronics experts while leading our support of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) Microelectronics Program. “By shortening the design cycle and enabling access to secure, state-of-the-art chips, we can unlock the immense performance advantages of advanced microelectronics and ensure defense platforms maintain superiority,” says Doug.

Senior Lead Engineer Julian Warchall leads R&D projects across integrated circuit design, automation, fabrication, and security, providing chip design expertise for defense missions, intelligence applications, and more. “Modern chips are increasingly feature-rich, so their design becomes more challenging and can even seem like magic,” he says. “We demystify the process, connecting the dots between client missions and commercial capabilities to get the job done right.”

Senior Lead Engineer Mark Labbato leads security and verification efforts, including independent analysis of microelectronics designs and IP blocks, commercial verification techniques on Department of Defense (DOD) programs, and hardware assurance. “Commercial chip designers spend billions developing processes to ensure their designs are bug-free and reliable, avoiding costly re-spins,” says Mark. “DOD must build from these commercial best practices to secure its technologies.” 

Lead Engineer Chris Riso leads projects in microelectronics advanced packaging, reliability of additively manufactured radio-frequency electronics technologies, government-to-commercial business model development, and technology transition of defense microelectronics. “We’re in a hardware renaissance,” Chris says, “thanks to groundbreaking initiatives like the CHIPS Act.” 

When it comes to microelectronics, sourcing is the first step. Booz Allen’s team helps clients navigate their options—and limitations, particularly if they’re working with legacy technology nodes.

“How can they modernize their systems to enable incremental technology refresh, so they can operate more in line with commercial technology lifecycles?” Doug asks. “The decisions the defense acquisition community makes in the next two to five years are going to drive defense capabilities for the next 30,” he says.

The next step: Bring the design to life through prototyping and fabrication, especially in areas like advanced packaging. A trusted third party ensures performance, reliability, integrity, and security throughout.

“Hardware security is often an afterthought in commercial electronics since it’s assumed that data is what’s worth protecting and that software can do it for the most part,” Julian says. “What happens when the device itself needs to be protected from tampering and reverse-engineering in the hands of adversaries?” This is where Booz Allen’s testing, validation, and verification services come in. 

Microelectronics is a national security issue. But it’s not just warfighters who stand to benefit from Booz Allen’s expertise—and overall microelectronics innovation.

“Across public and private sector applications, state-of-the-art microelectronics will usher in the next stage of technological advancement,” Chris says, enabling higher fidelity modeling and simulations, faster and better data analysis, and more powerful processing at the edge. “We’re really at an innovation inflection point powered by microelectronics.”