Innovation 'Is in our Blood'
Aaron Hand, Managing Editor -- Semiconductor International, 11/1/2006
“I did not fail. I just found something else that didn't work.” In quoting what Thomas Edison said in response to another “failing” lightbulb filament, Sematech chairman O.B. Bilous was likening the statement to the semiconductor industry's ability to overcome manufacturing challenges. Made up of bright people from various backgrounds working together on common problems, the semiconductor industry is one that has encouraged innovation, “even allowing people to fail so they can succeed sooner,” Bilous said.
Bilous, who retired from IBM in 2000, was giving the welcoming address at last month's ISMI Symposium on Manufacturing Effectiveness in Austin, Texas. But his comments on innovation relate, of course, not only to the yields and logistics of manufacturing effectiveness, but also to the technologies intrinsic to semiconductor and beyond-CMOS advances. Besides native intelligence, Bilous listed the attributes of innovation as curiosity, imagination, creativity and passion — all qualities this industry has plenty of.
Innovation is usually an incremental and collaborative process that builds on the work of others, Bilous said, adding, “Innovation breeds innovation.” The innovating tradition common in the semiconductor industry is one that will create a bright future for engineers. “The problems we are coping with today will be the solutions of tomorrow, and new ones will take their place,” he said. “Thirty years from now, when we have made more progress than in the last 100, no one will want to go back to 2006. Life is good, and it is going to get better.”
By way of comparison, Bilous talked about the energy industry, which took 100 years to move from coal to oil. And renewable energy today represents only about 6% of energy consumption. “No one's figured out how to make the alternatives cheaper than oil,” he said. “This is a problem that really begs for a solution.”
Bilous pointed out that 14 of the top 16 oil companies are controlled by the government. “Can you imagine that being the case in the semiconductor industry?” he asked. “We are different. We have a roadmap, and we have a pretty good idea of what it's going to take to go from here to there. It is our lifeblood; it is our culture. We thrive on innovation.”
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