In past years, we have provided 3D InCites readers with a guide for navigating through the myriad programs that specifically address 3D integration and packaging at SEMICON West. This year, as SEMI has discovered, everything has changed; and thus they themed SEMICON West 2016, “Definitely NOT business a usual.” As an industry, we have moved far beyond the point of industry segments working in silos, holding their own events, and throwing technology over the wall. This year’s event is all about integration across the supply chain, and emerging trends that will carry this industry forward to the next-generation of incredibly cool technologies.
This year, 3D integration – from 3D transistors, 3D stacked ICs, to 3D interposer integration and 3D heterogeneous integration – has become part of the big picture at SEMICON West. So my job this year will not be to attend the events specifically defined as “3D” and report back on technology advancements. Rather, I will cover 3D from a broader vantage point.
There are many overlapping sessions covering not only semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging, but other industry-critical topics like but IC design, test, sustainability, the Internet of Things (IoT), flexible electronics, and more. If your interests span the spectrum, choices will have to be made. I recommend you review the full agenda to design your program.
As for me, Monday afternoon, I’ll be attending imec’s ITF USA 2016, which with the theme, “Daring to take a Different View Towards the Ultimate System” will be a great launching pad for the week, as it will touch on each aspect of the supply chain, from scaling to sensing, to the nuts and bolts of emerging system interconnect technologies.
The keynotes and an executive summit will frame this year’s even nicely, beginning with Cisco’s John Kern, who will talk about the Digital Supply Chain—The Next Breakthrough Opportunity. Wednesday morning’s “Connect” Executive Summit panel includes industry leaders from across the supply chain who will talk about the trends driving consolidation, collaboration, and new business models, strategies, and technologies. Lastly, the closing keynote on Thursday will feature Oracle’s Atul Mahamuni, who will talk about the “Internet of Things in Smart Manufacturing: A Three-Phase Journey to Operational Excellence”
SEMI has organized business and technology programs into forums, providing strategic insights from industry thought leaders. They include:
- Advanced Manufacturing Forum
- Advanced Packaging Forum
- Test Forum
- Sustainable Manufacturing Forum
- Silicon Innovation Forum
- Flexible Hybrid Electronics Forum
- World of IoT Forum
- Extended Supply Chain Forum
My strategy will be to cherry-pick the presentations that most impact 3D integration. For example, at the Advanced Manufacturing Forum, in addition to other interesting topics, I hope to catch up on “CoolCube™ technology: A cost effective solution for monolithic 3D Integration”, as well as “Heterogeneous Material Integration Enabled by Advanced Wafer Bonding”. I also think the session titled, “Node 10 to node 5 – Dealing with the Slower Pace of Traditional Scaling”, sounds interesting – and might talk about how advanced packaging approaches will be part of that (I could be wrong, so we will see).
At the Advanced Packaging Forum, I’m looking forward to the SiP Sessions: SiP Next 1 – Processor – Memory/Analog Integration and SiP Next 2 – IoT & Smart Things – SiP Integration.
I also plan to check out various sessions at Extended Supply Chain Forum. On Tuesday, this forum will offer an IC Design Summit, with two focus sessions on design for automobiles, and design for security – two really critical areas impacting the future of our industry. On Thursday, the Smart Manufacturing features such industry leaders representing such companies as Siemens, Intel, KLA-Tencor, Applied Materials, Amkor, and GlobalFoundries.
It’s clear from this sampling of SEMICON West content that there is truly something for every interest imaginable. In fact, there’s so much to see and do, it’s pretty daunting. But never fear, there’s an app for that! Download it here to plan your 2016 SEMICON West strategy.
