MICRO:Semicon Europa 2004

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Nipping at the heels of the deepest downturn in the history of the semiconductor industry, Semicon Europa 2004 will take place
in an atmosphere of guarded optimism. From April 20 to 22, approximately 700 vendors will exhibit their wares at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre, sandwiched among a rich palette of standards meetings and technical and business programs to be held April 19–23. For heartier souls looking for even more meetings to attend, the European Advanced Equipment Control/Advanced Process Control (AEC/APC) conference will hold court April 14–16 in the Elbestadt Dresden, Germany, while the SEMI-sponsored Fab Managers Forum will convene April 23 in Grenoble, France.

In addition to offering a range of courses, this year's Semicon Europa will feature several SEMI Technology Symposium (STS) events. Organized with the support of STMicroelectronics, Intel, TSMC, Toshiba, Motorola, AMD, Infineon, Micronic, IMEC, LETI, and IHP, the STS will feature papers on important technical advances. Topics will include interconnect technologies, e-manufacturing and e-diagnostics, silicon-on-insulator technology, and the low k1 reticle challenge.

Other technical sessions will focus on several interest areas: lithography; semiconductor materials (silicon and compound substrates); chemicals and gases; factory automation; environment, health, and safety; and final manufacturing. Lithography, a hot topic at last year's Semicon West, will undoubtedly continue to draw attention. This is especially true following International Sematech's January announcement that 193-nm liquid immersion lithography is the most likely candidate for extending the life of optical lithography in the years to come. Semicon Europa visitors interested in the litho world will have a chance to delve into presentations on micropatterning as well as photomask fabrication and flatness.

Last year, Semicon Europa attendees were treated to the MEMS Manufacturing Technologies Platform, a special exhibit on microelectromechanical systems. This year, SEMI is touting its European trade show as a central meeting place for MEMS manufacturers. Thus, it is offering four days' worth of MEMS-related programs, starting with an all-day international MEMS/MST industry forum and continuing with such broad-ranging topics as wafer backside exclusion frame size, universal alignment targets for wafer bonding, wafer carriers, and packaging.

EXHIBIT HALL HOURS

Tuesday, April 20
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Wednesday, April 21
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Thursday, April 22
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

For more information on Semicon Europa, log onto www.semi.org

At the tail end of the week, SEMI will sponsor a two-day conference on flat-panel displays, noting that although Europe plays only a minor role in the production of FPDs,many European companies develop and produce FPD-related materials and equipment.

After walking the floor of the trade fair complex and absorbing hours of technical and business presentations, visitors can partake of the pleasures of the bayrische Hauptstadt. Beer flows copiously in the city's many Bierhallen, while restaurants and Kneipen abound near the famous Marienkirche, on the Lenbachplatz, and in the Schwabing district. Those with loftier aspirations can while away a few hours at Munich's several world-class museums, including the incomparable Alte Pinakothek—home to works by Dürer, Cranach, Raphael, and Rubens.

The less lofty can always drop by to see MICRO. We're at booth B1.481.

AEC/APC Europe

This year's Advanced Equipment Control/Advanced Process Control (AEC/APC) conference will be held in Dresden the week before Semicon Europa. Reflecting the growing importance of control strategies to the semiconductor manufacturing community, the conference will last two and a half days instead of last year's two, and will feature five keynote speakers: Johann Harter, vp of technology development at Infineon; René Penning de Vries, CTO of Philips; Kumud Srinivasan, director of automation logic technology development at Intel; Thomas de Paly, director of yield engineering at AMD; and Gabriele Capovilla, director of computer integrated manufacturing at STMicroelectronics.

'The limitation of manufacturing ICs across technology generations is mainly determined by the equipment used. AEC/APC makes it possible to overstep these boundaries and thus manufacture economically using existing toolsets as design rules shrink substantially.'

—Lothar Pfitzner

Lothar Pfitzner from the Fraunhofer Institute of Integrated Systems and Device Technology in Erlangen, Germany, notes, "The conference sees itself as the European platform for exchanging experiences and transfering knowledge of international capacities in the area of semiconductor manufacturing." With that goal in mind, the symposium will offer a range of user group meetings, tutorials, and paper presentations around the following topics: fab applications, integration of metrology and analytics into production tools, data management and process control, future needs, and equipment/process fault detection. As usual, poster presentations and an equipment exhibition will round out the technical program.

The conference session on future needs will strike a philosophical note, highlighting a panel discussion on "Where Are We Today and Which Direction Should We Take?" The session will conclude with a presentation titled, "After More than a Decade of APC, What Have We Really Accomplished, Where Are We Stuck, and What Do We Do about It?"

On Tuesday, April 13, the Integrated Measurement Association will meet again to discuss improving communication among vendors of integrated metrology and sensor products, toolmakers, and semiconductor manufacturers.

Fraunhofer's Pfitzner underscores that "the limitation of manufacturing ICs across technology generations is mainly determined by the equipment used. AEC/APC makes it possible to overstep these boundaries and thus manufacture economically using existing toolsets as design rules shrink substantially." AEC/APC, he concludes, "is not only a tool for 'leading edge' manufacturing, but it will also be indispensable in the future for further reducing minimal design rules and for increasing the complexity of integrated devices in flexible ASIC fabs and even in system-on-a-chip technology."

AEC/APC will take place April 13–16, at the Hilton Hotel Dresden.

SEMICON EUROPA 2004
TECHNICAL PROGRAMS

Many technical and business programs and meetings are scheduled in conjunction with Semicon Europa. The following list contains selections from the technical programs. All events will be held at the International Congress Centre, Munich, unless otherwise noted.

SEMI TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM (STS)

Tuesday, April 20
12–2 p.m.: Interconnect Technologies

8:30–11 a.m.: E-Manufacturing/E-Diagnostics

1:30–5:30 p.m.: Silicon Wafers Standardization (Focus on Wafer Edge and Reclaim Wafer) Workshop

3–5 p.m.: The Low k1 Reticle Challenge

Wednesday, April 21
1–3 p.m.: SiGe/SOI/Strained Si: From Growth to Device Properties

1–3 p.m.: Contamination Control in the Front End of Advanced Production Lines

PHOTO BY MICHAEL DROEGER

SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGY EVENTS

LITHOGRAPHY

Monday, April 19
10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.: Photomask Fabrication and Qualification Terminology Standards Task Force

Tuesday, April 20
9–noon: Photomask Flatness Standards Task Force

12:30–2:30 p.m.: Micropatterning Standards Technical Committee Meeting

SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS (SILICON AND COMPOUND SUBSTRATES)

SILICON SUBSTRATES

Monday, April 19
9–noon: General Silicon Wafer Specifications Standards Task Force

12:30–3:30 p.m.: International AWSIS (Automated Wafer Surface Inspection Specification) Standards Task Force

3:30–6:30 p.m.: International Advanced Wafer Geometry Standards Task Force

Tuesday, April 20
9–11 a.m.: International Basic Silicon Wafer Specification Standards Task Force

11–noon: Front-Side Wafer Marking for 300-mm Standards Task Force (TBC)

Noon–1 p.m.: Specification for Particle Removal Efficiency Standards Task Force (TBC)

Wednesday, April 21
8:30–noon: Silicon Wafer Standards Technical Committee Meeting

4–6 p.m.: Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) Executive Meeting (on invitation)

Thursday, April 22
10–noon: Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) General Meeting (on invitation)

COMPOUND SUBSTRATES

Tuesday, April 20
2–4 p.m.: Epitaxial Wafer Properties ECV Standards Task Force

4–6 p.m.: Epitaxial Wafer Properties X-Ray Diffraction Standards Task Force

Wednesday, April 21
9–11 a.m.: SiC Standards Task Force

9–11 a.m.: 200-mm GaAs Kick-Off Meeting Standards Task Force (TBC)

11–noon: DIN Compound Standards Transfer Task Force

3:30–6 p.m.: Compound Standards Technical Committee Meeting

CHEMICALS AND GASES

Tuesday, April 20
10:30 a.m.–noon: Safe Handling of H^₂O^₂ Standards Task Force Kick-Off Meeting

1–2:30 p.m.: Revision to SEMI C28 (Hydrofluoric Acid) Standards Task Force Meeting

1:30–3:30 p.m.: CGMG Executive Meeting (on invitation)

2:30–4 p.m.: Dichlorosilane Standards Task Force Meeting

4–5:30 p.m.: Precursors Specification Issues Standards Task Force Kick-Off Meeting

4–6 p.m.: CGMG General Meeting

Wednesday, April 21
9 a.m.–noon: Gases and Liquid Chemicals Technical Standards Committee Meeting

FACTORY AUTOMATION PROGRAMS AND MEETINGS

Monday, April 19
9:30–11 a.m.: PCS (Process Control Systems) Task Force

2–6 p.m.: Integrated Measurement (Layer-Thickness-Group) Standards Task Force

10 a.m.–1 p.m.: International Environmental Contamination Control Standards Task Force

10 a.m.–1 p.m.: APC (Advanced Process Control) Experts Tutorial

11:30–12:30 p.m.: SANPRO (Sensor Actuator Network Communication Standard for PROFInet) Task Force

2–6 p.m.: Information and Control Standards Subcommittee Task Forces (Process Control Systems, Extensible Markup Language, Diagnostic Data Acquisition, Recipe and Adjustable Parameters, Object Based Equipment Model, Sensor Actuator Network Communication Standard for PROFInet)

Tuesday, April 20
10–11 a.m.: SEMI E103 Maintenance Standards Task Force (Provisional Mechanical Specification for a 300-mm Single-Wafer Box System that Emulates a FOUP)

11 a.m.–1 p.m.: Factory Automation Technology Session on the Show Floor

12:30–6 p.m.: Programmable Functional Safety for Semiconductor Equipment in Compliance with Safety Guideline SEMI S2 Standards Technical Education Program

2–6 p.m.: Equipment Automation Standards Technical Committee

Wednesday, April 21
10 a.m.–1 p.m.: Factory Automation Company Presentations on the Show Floor

12:30–5:30 p.m.: Equipment Data Acquisition Interface (EDA) and Recipe Adjustable Parameter (RAP) Standards Technical Educational Program

2–5:30 p.m.: Models for Data Processing in Facility Systems Standards Task Force

Thursday, April 22
9 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: Facilities Standards Technical Committee

ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH, AND SAFETY PROGRAMS AND MEETINGS

Tuesday, April 20
12:30–6 p.m.: Programmable Functional Safety for Semiconductor Equipment in Compliance with Safety Guideline SEMI S2 Standards Technical Education Program

Wednesday, April 21
8:30–9:30 a.m.: SEMI S10 Revision Standards/S14 Fire Risk Assessment and Mitigation Task Force

9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Standards Technical Committee

1:30–5:30 p.m.: SEMI Environment, Health and Safety Workshop on Compliance with RoHS, WEEE, and ATEX: The Relationship between SEMI Safety Guidelines and Recent European Directives

MEMS PROGRAMS AND MEETINGS

Monday, April 19
9:30 a.m.–6:15 p.m.: International MEMS/MST Industry Forum

Tuesday, April 20
9–11 a.m.: MEMS Standardization Technical Committee

11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.: SEMI International MEMS Steering Group (IMSG) General Meeting

1–5 p.m.: MEMS Manufacturing and Packaging on the Show Floor

Wednesday, April 21
9–11 a.m.: Wafer Backside Exclusion Frame Size for MEMS Standards Task Force

11 a.m.–1 p.m.: Universal Alignment Targets for Wafer Bonding for MEMS Standards Task Force

3–5 p.m.: Wafer Carrier MEMS Standards Task Force

3–5 p.m.: Terminology for MEMS Standards Task Force

1–5 p.m.: MEMS Company Presentations on the Show Floor

Thursday, April 22
10 a.m.–1 p.m.: MEMS Company Presentations on the Show Floor

FLAT PANEL DISPLAY PROGRAMS AND MEETINGS

Wednesday, April 21
1–5 p.m.: Flat Panel Display Conference, Part 1

Thursday, April 22
9 a.m.–noon: Flat Panel Display Conference, Part 2

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