The 23rd Annual SEMI Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference (ASMC 2012) will be held May 15-17 in Saratoga Springs, New York. The conference will feature presentations of more than 85 peer-reviewed manuscripts covering critical process technologies and fab productivity. This year’s event features a panel discussion on “Competing for R&D Dollars,” moderated by Solid State Technology Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer, and 15 technical sessions on advanced semiconductor manufacturing, as well as a tutorial on Advanced Device Design offered by IBM Research.

For over 20 years, ASMC has provided a premier venue for industry professionals to learn and share knowledge on new and “best practice” semiconductor manufacturing issues and concepts.  ASMC provides a valuable source of cost-effective, hands-on solutions to address real-world manufacturing challenges. It is acknowledged as a leading technical conference that enables collaboration and sharing of technical breakthroughs. This year’s conference features keynotes delivered by industry leaders, including: Michael Campbell, senior vice president, Engineering, Qualcomm, and Andrea Lati, principal analyst, VLSI Research.

As advances in materials and process technology continue, the semiconductor manufacturing industry is faced with difficult challenges as it balances costs and critical technology issues. Limited R&D dollars is the reality, and it is unclear how wafer size transition, next node scaling, new transistor technology, 450mm EUV, and 3D-IC will be funded. To address this issue, ASMC offers a panel discussion this year on “Competing for R&D Dollars: Funding the Future” with panelists from Applied Materials, ASML, GLOBALFOUNDRIES and IBM addressing 450mm, EUV and 3D.  

ASMC 2012 sessions include:

• Factory Optimization: Semiconductor equipment and manufacturing are increasingly complex with strict economic constraints. The sessions discuss novel solutions to improve equipment/factory productivity and performance.
  
• Advanced Metrology: Advanced semiconductor manufacturing demands advanced metrology techniques. This session details new technologies and improvements.
  
• 3D/Through Silicon Via (TSV): Very Large Scale Integration motivates 3D integrated circuit architectures. This session presents complexities of TSV techniques supporting 3D designs.
  
• Equipment, Materials & Processes: Advanced memory and logic manufacturers face daunting challenges as the next generation device nodes come on line. Innovations in equipment, materials, and processes help meet those challenges.  
  
• Emerging Technologies and Innovative Devices: Innovative integrated circuit functionalities continue to be integrated in semiconductor manufacturing. This session presents analysis of the effects of enabling technologies, and innovative integrated circuit designs.
  
• Equipment and Materials Productivity: Optimizing equipment and performance will help improve fab metrics, minimize wafer costs and maximize competitiveness— how to help optimize equipment utilization, improve predictive modeling of fab operations, and tool performance.
  
• Advanced Patterning and Design for Manufacturability: IC production today requires innovative lithography design and manufacturing techniques, including collaborative efforts between chip makers and equipment suppliers discussing leading-edge solutions
  
• Process Development and Control: The demand for high quality and product yields is a constant driver for advanced process development and control techniques. Session covers improvements in processes, tool controls and predictive process performance analysis.
• Defect Inspection and Yield Optimization: Defect inspection, yield analysis and optimization are integral components in the development and manufacture of semiconductor devices

ASMC also holds an interactive poster session and reception, which provides an ideal opportunity for networking between authors and conference attendees. During this session, participants can engage authors in in-depth discussion of a wide range of issues.

ASMC 2012 is presented by SEMI with technical sponsors: Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE), IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS), and IEEE Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology Society (CPMT).  Corporate sponsors include: Applied Materials, ATMI, ChemTrace, CNW Courier Network, Edwards, KLA-Tencor, Mentor Graphics, Nikon, NY Loves Nanotech, and Valqua. Additional sponsors include: Saratoga Convention & Tourism Bureau, Saratoga Economic Development Corporation, and the city of Saratoga Springs, New York.