INDUSTRY NEWS

Semicon West reunifies in 2005

In a much-anticipated move, SEMI will bring the two segments of Semicon West back under one collective roof in San Francisco next year. The final manufacturing or back-end portion of the show, which has been held in San Jose since 1993, will occupy the newly completed Moscone West facilities. The new exhibition space is adjacent to the Moscone’s existing halls, which have hosted the wafer processing part of the show since 1992. In addition to the back-end exhibitors, SEMI says the western addition will also house exposition keynotes and technical programs.

“Reuniting Semicon West allows attendees to visit a single integrated venue and use their time more productively,” says Victoria Hadfield, president of SEMI North America. “It also provides exhibitors with access to a concentrated community of attendees…. Reunification [also] benefits the numerous exhibitors and many visitors that have interests in both Semicon West segments.”

Spintronics center formed
Two leaders in advanced spintronics research have joined forces to form the IBM-Stanford Spintronic Science and Applications Center (SpinAps). The spintronics research, which tries to harness the electronic properties brought about by the “up” and “down” spin of electrons, will be done by a multidisciplinary team. Included in the SpinAps lineup are a half-dozen Stanford professors, a similar number of IBM scientists, grad students working at both the university and IBM’s Almaden Research Center, postdoc researchers, and visiting faculty. Additional funding will come from the National Science Foundation as well as the U.S. Department of Energy and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Although commercial products from the center’s research are not expected for at least five years, “the SpinAps scientists will dramatically hasten progress from theoretical concept to experimental verification and from new-device ideas to product prototypes,” notes Stanford’s dean of engineering, James Plummer.

Conferences call for papers
Two of the semiconductor industry’s leading conferences have issued calls for papers. The 30th annual SPIE International Symposium on Microlithography needs abstracts by August 23; for those accepted, manuscripts will be due by January 31, 2005. The litho community’s main event moves to the San Jose Convention Center next year, taking place February 26 through March 4. Organizers are soliciting papers for emerging litho technologies; resist technologies and processing; metrology, inspection, and process control; optical litho; data analysis and modeling for process control; and design and process integration.

Abstracts for the next Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference (ASMC), which returns to Munich in April 2005, are due by September 16. Notifications of acceptance will be e-mailed to prospective authors by November 23, with preliminary manuscripts due by December 22. ASMC interest areas include yield enhancement, factory automation, advanced metrology, equipment reliability and productivity, and MEMS technology.