Show Basics of SEMICON West 98

Shown are SEMI executives during the opening ceremony of SEMICON West 97 in San Francisco. This year's kickoff will take place Monday, July 13 at 9:30 a.m. at the Moscone Center.

Staff. -- Semiconductor International, 7/1/1998

Well, it's finally here: the largest annual U.S. semiconductor equipment and materials trade show. In case you're still in the dark about what's going on at this year's event, the following information should help get you caught up.

This year's show will again be split according to process step and held at two locations: San Francisco will host all wafer processing (front-end) exhibits and events at the Moscone Center, and San Jose will be home to test, assembly and packaging (back-end) at the San Jose Convention Center.

The bulk of the front-end events will be held July 13-15, with back-end events being covered July 15-17.

Wednesday is an "overlap" day, and free transportation to and from the Moscone Center and the San Jose Convention Center will be provided that day for show attendees.

Exhibitors

Shown are SEMI executives during the opening ceremony of SEMICON West 97 in San Francisco. This year's kickoff will take place Monday, July 13 at 9:30 a.m. at the Moscone Center. (Source: SEMI)

Companies will be on hand in both cities to display their latest products and technologies (see Table for schedule). New this year is "BoothSearch," an Internet service cosponsored by SEMI and Semiconductor.Net. It allows you to easily search for an exhibiting company's booth number and location. Attendees can access BoothSearch at the Semiconductor International booths in both cities, where terminals will be provided. (SI will be at South Hall Booth #1907-1 in San Francisco and McEnery Hall Booth #11307-1 in San Jose.) The service can also be accessed through the Semiconductor.Net web site or at http://www.fablink.com/cgi-bin/webbsrch.exe?sysId=booths%01mode=1.

Technical programs, courses and workshops

An expanded venue of more than 70 technical programs, courses and workshops will also be taking place in both cities during the week. Some of the new programs this year will cover vacuum technology for semiconductor process management (San Francisco, July 12-13), process characterization of ion implantation (San Francisco, July 12-13) and strategies for rapid technology implementation (San Jose, July 15). A six-session symposium on semiconductor packaging (San Jose, July 14-16) has also been added to the lineup.

Front-end programs, courses and workshops will be held in San Francisco at the ANA Hotel, the San Francisco Marriott and the Moscone Center. Back-end programs will be held in San Jose at the San Jose Hilton, the Fairmont Hotel and the San Jose Convention Center.

Standards

1998 marks the 25th anniversary of SEMI Standards. More than 120 Standards meetings are scheduled for this year, in addition to 18 committee meetings, five workshops and five Standard Technical Education Programs (STEPs). Meetings are open to all interested parties, free of charge, and do not require pre-registration.

Front-end-related Standards meetings will be held at the San Francisco Marriott July 12-17. Back-end-related meetings will be held at the San Jose Hilton and Towers July 15-17. Full up-to-the-minute schedules will be available on-site at the show at the Standards Information Desk.

To celebrate the past 25 years, a special awards reception will be held Tuesday, July 14 at the San Francisco Marriott at 6:30 p.m. This reception will recognize both the anniversary and the members who have made special contributions over the past year.