Front End Spins Into San Francisco
-- Semiconductor International, 6/15/2000
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The Moscone Center once again will host the front-end, wafer-processing portion of the show, from Monday, July 10, through Wednesday, July 12. For the fourth consecutive year, the show will be split between San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., where the back-end segment - covering test, assembly and packaging - will be held from July 12 through Friday, July 14.
This year's show will feature a variety of high-tech resources, including virtual booths, eCenters and a feature called "My Personal Planner," to help attendees optimize their experience, whether in person or remotely.
Can't get to every exhibitor and booth? Log on and visit some booths in advance, from wherever you are. Up to 100 exhibitors are scheduled to have "virtual booths" set up by the time of the convention, according to SEMI, sponsor of the exhibition. These booths can be accessed before or during the convention, and visitors can download literature and access audio and video presentations.
Each booth is designed to be unique, but they all have some common features, such as "Literature" and "Contacts" links. The "Literature" links give visitors access to specific product and industry informational writings, which can be downloaded into a virtual "Tradeshow Bag" and printed out from there. The "Contacts" links offer small, virtual "business cards," which also can be downloaded and printed out. And to keep track of where they've been, visitors can have a "virtual badge" scanned at each virtual booth, allowing them to access various links to each exhibitor.
And that's only the start of SEMICON West's new features. Overwhelmed by the size of the convention and wondering how to keep track of all the events you want to take in? Neither time nor distance need be an issue. Log on to "My Personal Planner" and keep track of everything while you organize your activities in advance. And if you need to stay in touch with your office or check the Internet while you're attending the show, there will be eCenters located throughout the convention area to help you. The e-mail stations can be used to send or receive e-mail from anywhere in the world. There also will be kiosks connected directly into the Internet, where exhibitor and product information can be looked up instantly, plus exhibitor locator stations to make finding any particular booth, virtually, no problem.
Virtual booths and other high-tech resources for the show can be found on SEMI's Web site: www.semi.org.
Technology trends
SEMICON West is the premier place for new technology introductions (see the product sections in this issue and our July issue). It also is an ideal place to get a pulse on how semiconductor equipment and materials suppliers are addressing the myriad challenges presented by the drive to put ever more functionality on a piece of silicon.
While the semiconductor industry historically has been relatively conservative when it comes to making even modest changes in the materials used in chip-making, that is no longer the case. To increase chip speed and reduce the number of metal levels, there is a strong push to move from aluminum to copper for interconnect "wires" and from silicon dioxide to materials with low dielectric constants. This brings a host of new challenges, most notably in the areas of deposition, patterning and metrology.
At the same time, the industry is continuing to move to ever smaller dimensions. With 0.18 µm now in production, the focus is on how to achieve 0.13 µm and 0.10 µm geometries. This is primarily a lithography challenge, but it also creates new demands for inspection and other metrology tools.
A third major change, in addition to the move to new materials and smaller geometries, is the shift from 200 mm wafer sizes to 300 mm. Equipment suppliers have had 300 mm tools in development for some time, but it appears that 300 mm production soon will become a reality. Of special interest will be the so-called "bridge" tools designed to accommodate both 200 mm and 300 mm wafers.
The numbers game
Despite the current industry upturn, the number of companies with booths at SEMICON West 2000 is down slightly from last year. Still, SEMI estimates some 70,000 people will visit the booths and exhibits in San Francisco and San Jose. This year, San Francisco will feature 2,800 booths with displays from 1,100 companies. There also will be plenty of presentations offered for participants, including a significant increase in the number of Standards programs. In 1999, there were 108 Standards programs; this year, there will be 147. There also will be 36 technical and business programs this year.
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The Moscone Center, San Francisco's premier meeting and exhibition facility, is located on 11 acres bounded by Mission, Folsom, Third and Fourth Streets. There will be six exhibit areas at the Moscone Center this year: the South Hall, Gateway Hall, Esplanade Hall, North Hall, East Hall and Concourse-North Hall.
Exhibition hours for the front-end show are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, July 10-11, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, July 12. The last day of the San Francisco show overlaps the first day of the back-end session in San Jose. SEMI will provide free shuttle services between San Francisco and San Jose from July 10-12.
Technical and business programs
The 36 technical and business programs offered this year once again cover a broad range of topics (Table 1 and Table 2). Among the presentations offered in San Francisco will be "Semiconductor Processing Technology," a three-day course to be held Thursday, July 6, through Saturday, July 8, from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. at the Palace Hotel. This popular introductory course will familiarize participants with a wafer fab, including how to recognize key pieces of equipment, and how the equipment works and fits into the big picture, plus case studies of actual problems due to equipment and materials issues. It is taught by Dr. Peter Gwozdz, director of the Center for Electronic Materials at San Jose State University.
Another returning workshop, also extremely popular, is the "Workshop on Gas Distribution Systems," which will be held Sunday, July 9, from 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. at the San Francisco Hilton & Towers. Participants will be able to exchange information and ideas on contamination control in gas distribution systems, and will learn to identify the need for new and improved standards in this area. Specific topics include system certification, contamination issues, numerical simulations, corrosive gas handling and system design. There will be both a technical presentation and a panel discussion. The program chairman will be Jack Martinez, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Participants also might want to check out "Plasma Processing 2000" this year. This new program, chaired by Daniel Flamm of The Microtechnology Analysis Group, features a look at the driving forces behind the evolution of plasma etching equipment and processes and projections for the future. Lecturers will discuss a broad range of topics, including rf power delivery, electrostatic chucks and matching, new and traditional optical diagnostics for production monitoring, exhaust abatement and process impact from environmental regulations, and equipment and process trends in the U.S. and Japan, among many other issues. The session will be held at the San Francisco Hilton and Towers on Wednesday, July 12, from 8 a.m. to noon.
Standards meeting
SEMI International Standards meetings provide a neutral forum for the exchange of information among suppliers and end-users to establish a framework of commonality for the industry. Standards begin with defining critical parameters, determining how to measure those parameters, and devising a set of specifications and tolerances. The goal is to provide equipment suppliers with the means to manufacture tools that will be suitable to multiple end-users. Initially, standards were set for silicon wafers, to determine diameter, thickness, surface roughness and purity.
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More than 100 committee and task force meetings are scheduled in San Francisco. There also will be four SEMI Standards technical education programs. A list of topics is contained in Table 3.
The SEMI North American Standards Awards will be presented on July 11 at the San Francisco Marriott Hotel. Award categories include the Karel Urbanek Award for international achievement in the standards program, corporate device member, honor, merit, leadership and technical editors' appreciation.
Schedules will be available at the Standards Information desk at the San Francisco Marriott Hotel and at the SEMI booths in the San Francisco Moscone Center and the San Jose Convention Center. Meetings are open to all at no charge.
Happy anniversary, SEMI!
With both SEMI and SEMICON West celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, one highlight of the 2000 show will be a special black-tie fundraiser, held in the main hangar at Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif., on Wednesday, July 12. The benefit gala will feature Gen. Colin L. Powell, former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, as keynote speaker, along with entertainment from comedian Dana Carvey and the swing band Cherry Poppin' Daddies. Proceeds will go to five Silicon Valley programs promoting math and science education and workforce development programs in grades 6-12. SEMI has pledged a total of $1M to be divided equally among these organizations: Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education; Synopsis Outreach Foundation; Jose A. Valdes Summer Mathematics Institute; Workforce Silicon Valley; and Charitech Civic Venture Fund.
For more information and to obtain tickets to the gala, call 1-650-940-6901 or visit www.semi.org.
Registration details
On-site registration in San Francisco begins Saturday, July 8, and continues throughout the show. You also can register in advance, either by mail, by Fax or on SEMI's Web site, www.semi.org. Downloadable registration forms are available at the online registration page. For those who choose not to register online, you can register for the exposition only by mailing your form to SEMICON West 2000, 110 Shawmut Rd., Canton, MA 02021-1411, or Faxing it to 1-781-828-9992. To register for programs or events, mail forms to SEMICON West 2000 Lock Box, Department 05229, P.O. Box 39000, San Francisco, CA 94139-5229, or Fax to 1-650-940-7919.
For general information, call 1-650-964-5111.
