Description

William D. Sproul is the founder and owner of Reactive Sputtering, Inc. Prior to starting his own company, he worked at Advanced Energy Industries, the Borg-Warner Corporation, Northwestern University, Sputtered Films, Inc., and American Can Company. Throughout his career he has been involved with the sputter deposition and reactive sputter deposition of hard materials for wear and corrosion applications. He is the author or co-author of more than 185 technical papers. He has 11 patents to his credit, and he is the inventor of the high rate reactive sputtering process. He is a past president of the American Vacuum Society (AVS), and a past member of the AVS Board of Directors, and a past AVS Trustee. He chaired the International Conference on Metallurgical Coating and Thin Films (ICMCTF) three times, and he has been very active in the Advanced Surface Engineering Division of the AVS, which oversees the operation of the ICMCTF. He also served on the Society of Vacuum Coaters (SVC) Board of Directors. He is an AVS Fellow and Honorary Member, and in 2003 he received the AVS Thornton Award and the SVC Mentor Award. In 2011 he was awarded the SVC Nathaniel H. Sugerman Memorial Award. He received his Bachelor, Masters, and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science Engineering from Brown University.