When Silvia De Dea, MS ’04, PhD ’08, first learned about fusion energy as a middle school student in a small town in northern Italy, it left a lasting impression and a sense of wonder. A childhood fascination and deep scientific curiosity, nurtured by her parents Mario and Giuliana, would eventually lead her on a remarkable journey from the University of Bologna to her current role as Head of Materials and Process Engineering at Xcimer Energy, where she is tackling a crucial challenge: bringing fusion energy to the grid. “Xcimer’s vision is bold and clear,” De Dea said. “[To] unlock abundant affordable and zero-carbon energy for humanity, for the future.”
A Bold Mission for Clean Energy
De Dea has embraced her mission at Xcimer. "Fusion is not just a scientific goal. It's about enabling humanity's future," she explained. With recent advancements, from artificial intelligence to data centers demanding ever-increasing amounts of energy, De Dea and her team view fusion energy as the sustainable solution that will allow society to progress without compromising the environment.
De Dea works on inertial fusion energy, which is based on the use of powerful lasers to fuse two nuclei of light gases, forcing isotopes to produce a larger, heavier nucleus that releases energy. Last year, Xcimer completed the first key component of its prototype laser system. And in December, the company began testing the highest-energy KrF laser built in the 21st century. This laser provides the optical energy to power the “Phoenix” pulse compression prototype, which generates laser pulses with the optical characteristics needed to ignite inertial fusion fuel capsules. Xcimer’s Phoenix system will be fully complete in the first half of 2026.
Xcimer’s goal for 2030 is to complete the construction of Vulcan, its next-generation facility, which will achieve the highest laser energy in the world, up to 12 MJ (megajoules), using the largest laser amplifiers ever built. In 2031, Vulcan is expected to achieve engineering breakeven from fusion for the first time. Xcimer’s laser will be the world’s brightest, highest-energy and most powerful laser system, surpassing the French Laser Megajoule and China’s new facility in Mianyang.
Building on four decades of fusion research momentum through UC San Diego's Center for Energy Research, the university launched the Fusion Engineering Institute in 2023 to address the critical engineering challenges that stand between recent scientific advances in fusion and the deployment of commercially viable fusion power plants. Led by the Jacobs School of Engineering, the Institute responds to renewed global interest in fusion energy driven by the growing need to decarbonize energy production, with private investors contributing over $6 billion to this effort and the U.S. government targeting multiple fusion pilot plants within the next decade.
Foundational to her work in fusion is the experience she’s gained from UC San Diego and beyond.
Building a Foundation at UC San Diego
De Dea's path to fusion leadership began during her transformative years at UC San Diego. Initially arriving as an exchange student from the University of Bologna in the fall of 1999, she immediately fell in love with the campus, the interdisciplinary culture, and the opportunity to work with world-renowned scientists. That brief introduction to life and studies in San Diego convinced her to return for her master’s and doctorate from 2002 to 2008.
Working under the dual supervision of Professors Robert “Bob” Continetti and David Miller, De Dea developed an expertise that would prove invaluable throughout her career. Continetti, an expert in cross-molecular beams and chemical kinetics, had built unique experimental apparatus for studying fundamental chemical reactions. Miller, whose expertise lay in supercritical fluids and surface science, brought complementary knowledge to De Dea’s interdisciplinary work.
"Both of them taught me rigor, integrity, and urgency," De Dea said. "Working with Bob, I became what I would call a fearless experimentalist." Her doctoral thesis on supercritical fluids and their applications to magnetic nanoparticles for drug delivery gave her hands-on experience with complex vacuum systems, electronics, and mechanical engineering—skills and expertise that would directly translate to her industrial career in lithography and eventually, fusion.
Staying Involved at UC San Diego
De Dea's journey, from arriving at UC San Diego as an exchange student to becoming a leader in fusion energy solutions, offers valuable lessons for current students. When asked about her first piece of advice to these students, she encourages them to find the middle ground between following their passion and thinking about what the world needs. Her second piece of advice? “Challenge whenever someone tells you ‘This is impossible’,” she says.
De Dea has kept this advice near as she’s built upon her career as a semiconductor technologist and patent holder, launched advanced sequencing biotechnology, consulted across industries, and taught engineering management and leadership at the University of San Diego.
"Don't be afraid to fail, because failing is learning," she said. "That's where you sit down and learn how things work to the very basic level."
De Dea reflects on her time as a graduate student, which taught her ways to think and rethink about problems, and how despite the heavy workload, she made the time to develop lasting connections with her peers and mentors. Her connections with advisors like Continetti, who is now senior associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at UC San Diego, are still a valuable resource she taps into.
She is thankful for the mentorship she received, naming especially fellow engineering alumni Bill Proffer '76, MS '78, and Sam Knight '73, who were great supporters and she now considers friends. "It was a real pleasure and a great learning experience to collaborate with Bill and Sam," she shared.
Following her doctoral studies, De Dea embarked on her journey with industry, but she has remained close to the UC San Diego community and is no stranger to being on campus. As an alumna, she has continued to support the next generation of engineers through her advising and mentorship, including serving as a judge for the annual Jacobs School Research Expo.
Making the Impossible Possible
Upon completion of her doctoral studies in chemical engineering in 2008, De Dea joined Cymer/ASML (Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography) for over a decade developing the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology essential for manufacturing the world's most advanced microchips.
While her tenure there was marked with many achievements, an early significant contribution was solving the recurring contamination of the collector optic–a million-dollar component critical to the EUV system's operation. During its operation, the optic would become contaminated with tin debris in seconds, shutting down production and requiring costly replacements. Previous attempts to solve this problem had failed, with many considering it impossible. But De Dea challenged those assumptions, applying her chemistry knowledge to develop an innovative solution using atomic hydrogen to etch away the tin contamination. "When someone tells you something is impossible, challenge that," she said. Despite skepticism from colleagues who believed atomic hydrogen couldn't be delivered over the required distances, De Dea persisted. Working with equipment borrowed from suppliers, she demonstrated that the radicals could indeed be delivered through a specially designed quartz delivery system. This breakthrough was pivotal for ASML's success, enabling around-the-clock operation of their EUV systems and convincing major customers like Samsung to invest in the technology.
The innovation evolved from her initial delivery system approach to eventual "self-cleaning" technology that eliminated the contamination problem entirely. With her expertise in the field cemented, De Dea looked ahead at a new problem to solve: fusion energy.
Finding a New Opportunity in Fusion
Throughout her career in semiconductors and then in biotech, De Dea had continued to monitor developments in fusion energy. The 2022 breakthrough at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), where fusion break-even was achieved, marked a turning point. "This is my time," she realized, recognizing that her materials expertise from ASML could directly apply to fusion challenges.
Following her departure from ASML, De Dea explored various fusion companies before connecting with Xcimer through UC San Diego's network. The company's approach particularly appealed to her because it builds on proven inertial fusion technology demonstrated at NIF, with a clear commercialization roadmap.
"When I looked at different fusion companies, I saw Xcimer as having the best path to make it happen," she explained. The company's use of demonstrated physics – simulating theory to produce observable results – combined with their systematic approach to scaling up through phases outlined in their decade-long roadmap, convinced her this was the right opportunity.
The timing aligns well with UC San Diego's own fusion ambitions. With the launch of the Fusion Engineering Institute, and continued efforts to secure legislative and collaborative support, partnerships with firms such as Xcimer can create new opportunities for multidisciplinary collaboration between academia and industry to bring clean, abundant energy to the world. Xcimer has already partnered with national laboratories and universities, building a network of collaborators that go beyond Xcimer’s footprint in Colorado. De Dea visited UC San Diego and Fusion Engineering Institute laboratories at the start of the academic year to explore potential partnerships with the Institute, recognizing the potential synergy with the university's long history in fusion research and its world-class faculty and resources.
Looking Forward
As De Dea advances her vision by leading a world-class materials and process engineering department at Xcimer, she's drawing on lessons learned from her interdisciplinary education at UC San Diego, from the long list of accomplishments across her career, and from her lifelong scientific curiosity. “Right now,” she says, “I’m fully committed.”
De Dea’s goal is bold, but her determination in making the impossible possible might get us closer than ever before to building a cleaner and more sustainable future.
Contact
Jesse De La Trinidad
Jacobs School of Engineering
(858) 534-6782
jdelatrinidad@ucsd.edu