2003 IEEE International Conference on Microelectronic Test Structures (ICMTS)
The 2003 IEEE International Conference on Microelectronic Test Structures (ICMTS) will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Monterey, California, USA on March 18-20 2003. The conference will be preceded by a one day Tutorial Short Course on Microelectronic Test Structures on March 17, 2003.
Semiconductor manufacturing feature sizes have been reduced on a constant path over the last 30 years, which has allowed designers to put more and more devices and circuit components on a single chip. With every newly introduced technology node, such designs will run faster as well. Given today’s design and manufacturing complexity, it is crucial to maintain the bridge between chip design and manufacturing process steps to guarantee functionality, performance and yield. Designing chips requires more accurate simulations, not just of the single devices and parts of circuits, but also a timing and performance simulation of the entire chip. The complexity of systems on a chip even more challenges simulation capabilities due to the mixture of digital logic design, memory components as well as analog circuits. All these simulations rely on models that need a constantly increasing number of calibration variables, which have to be extracted from a semiconductor manufacturing process. Chips containing a variety of test structures are the main vehicles used to extract such variables as well as to calibrate and control each individual manufacturing process step.
Since 1988, the International Conference on Microelectronic Test Structures (ICMTS) that is sponsored by the IEEE Electron Devices Society has presented the latest trends on the extraction of semiconductor manufacturing technology data and models that are required to ensure future chip design and manufacturability. The ICMTS focuses on:
- Development of test structures & measurement methods for material & process characterization
- Dimension and electrical integrity of features
- Device and circuit modeling
- Failure analysis
- Reliability analysis
- Process control
- Yield enhancement
- Measurement utilization strategy
The conference format provides a single program track of ten Sessions (without parallel sessions) including the Poster Session, which will be held as a reception to provide a unique opportunity for a less formal and more in depth discussion with the authors. The Tutorial Short Course, which will precede the Conference, will give participants guidelines on superior test structure design, efficient and precise test methods, and state of the art data analysis. There will also be an equipment exhibition for evaluation of the latest versions of measurement equipment, data analysis software, and other test structure related products.
ICMTS has had wide international participation. To encourage this, the conference rotates its location between North America, Asia, and Europe. The 2001 meeting was held in Kobe, Japan and the 2002 meeting was held in Cork, Ireland. For 2003, ICMTS will return to the Monterey Peninsula, which is being called the perfect meeting of land, sea, and sky. This beautiful seaside resort community provides the charm of small town America and an endless variety of recreational and cultural activities. Monterey’s rich history, such as the saga of California’s Mission Trail, historic Fisherman’s Warf and Cannery Row, unique variety of shops and galleries, and spectacular assortment of parks and natural areas combine to provide a truly unrivaled backdrop for ICMTS2003. Monterey is also home of a world-class aquarium, where this year’s ICMTS banquet will be held.
For more information, please contact Wendy Walker, the ICMTS 2003 Conference Secretariat; 16220 South Frederick Ave., Suite 312; Gaithersburg, MD 20877 USA; phone +1-301-527-0900, ext. 315; FAX: +1-301-527-0994; email: wendy.walker@widerkehr.com. In addition, general information including the conference program may be found on our web side at http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/ICMTS/.
Christopher
Hess
PDF Solutions
San Jose, CA, USA