Chemical engineer fined $4 million

A federal judge has ordered Mattias Tezock, a chemical engineer, to pay $4 million to his former employer, Voltaix, for stealing trade secrets. Voltaix is owned by Air Liquide. Tezock admitted to using the proprietary data to set up a competing business, Metaloid Precursors, to make high-purity germane (GeH₄), used in semiconductors and solar cells. As part of a plea agreement, Tezock also must close his business and destroy the germane processing plant he built with financial partners. As a condition of his five-year probation, Tezock is prohibited from working with germane gas or other specialty chemicals.