SEMICON West 2007

Come ready visitors of SEMICON West 2007. There is a ton going on, and you only have three days to see it all. Jot this down: Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., same on Wednesday, and Thursday is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Get connected...and fast!

SEMICONNECT is a tool created by SEMI to help exhibitors and show visitors find one another. Here’s how it works: SEMICONNECT uses a visitor’s registration information to automatically search the exhibitor listings, programs, events and products at SEMICON West, finds the information that most matches up with what a particular visitor wants to see, and creates a schedule for that particular visitor, making his or her trip to SEMICON West more productive.

The program also offers users the option of directly contacting exhibitors and other show individuals. They can send meeting and information requests to specific exhibitors and individuals. SEMICONNECT will even create customized event plans and walking maps of the show floor for each user. “SEMICONNECT is designed to give each visitor control over their SEMICON West experience, allowing them to build a show plan that meets their needs and helps them achieve their objectives in attending,” said Dan DiPietro, account director with BDMetrics (Baltimore, Md.,), the developer of SEMICONNECT.

TechXPOT Madness

Sure to be popular with all visitors to the show are the TechXPOTS (pronounced “Tech Spots”), which feature three separate platforms: Emerging Technologies; Test, Assembly & Packaging; and Device Scaling (Table 1). Nanotechnology your thing? Check out the Emerging Technologies TechXPOT. It has two presentations on Tuesday centered on nano applications. Photovoltaics seem to be huge in the industry this year. To learn more about renewable energy, attend the presentation on solar and fuel cells.

Are you wondering what the current critical issues in test are? Then mark it down on your schedule to see the presentation on that subject at the Test, Assembly & Packaging TechXPOT. Other presentations on that front include packaging materials trends and advanced packaging.

At the Device Scaling TechXPOT, you can get up to speed on advances in wafer processing, e-manufacturing, 32 nm challenges and more.

Also, check out the Device Manufacturer’s Meeting Room and rub elbows with representatives from AMD, IBM, NEC, Samsung, Intel, Hynix, Qimonda and Texas Instruments.

They talk, you listen

There are five keynote addresses this year (Table 2). Douglas Grose, senior vice president of technology development, manufacturing and supply chain, at AMD (Sunnyvale, Calif.), will be the opening keynote speaker on Tuesday at 9 a.m. He will discuss the competitive advantages and different models for collaborative innovation as companies look to keep pace with the market.

Paolo Gargini, director of technology strategy at Intel (Santa Clara, Calif.) and chairman of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS), has the task of informing visitors about the grand challenges for the IC industry — past, present and future.

Wednesday brings us T.J. Rodgers, Chairman of SunPower Corp. (San Jose) and founder, president, CEO and director of Cypress Semiconductor (San Jose). He’ll be talking about what the industry needs to do to sustain growth in the solar cell market. Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA, Washington, D.C.), also plans discussing the solar market as the next great growth opportunity for the semiconductor industry.

The final keynote for SEMICON West 2007 is Aart de Geus, chairman and CEO of Synopsys (Mountain View, Calif.). He’ll tell us about the techonomics of bridging design and manufacturing. All of these presentations will be on the center stage in the West Hall, Level 2.

And the kitchen sink

There is lots more going on during the three days than mentioned above. The ITRS Summer Public Conference takes place on July 18 at the Esplanade Hall. As technologies and structures push the limits of Moore’s law and productivity, the ITRS 15-year assessment of the semiconductor industry technology requirements and potential solutions indicates new approaches to maintain scaling and introducing functionality on and off-chip. Public feedback is welcomed as the ITRS working groups present their draft material for the latest revision of the new 2007 ITRS.

SPIE and PTI short courses and workshops are available all day everyday at the San Francisco Marriott Hotel (Table 3). Example topics to be covered include an introduction to microlithography and photolithography process control.

An extensive schedule of the Standards meetings is featured during the show. Table 4 lists these meetings in detail.

Daily show coverage at your fingertips

In partnership with SEMI (San Jose), Semiconductor International is producing the Daily News content for all exhibitors and show visitors. Look for each of those issues as you enter the show floor Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and stay caught up on what’s happening at SEMICON West 2007.