USA, Canada and Latin America
(Regions 1-6, 7 & 9)

 

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ED Washington/Northern Virginia
-by Michael Hunt

The Washington/Northern Virginia Chapter of the Electron Devices Society held two meetings in the spring of 2002. On April 4, Dr. Nathan Swami, the Director of the Initiative for Nanotechnology in Virginia and a Professor at the University of Virginia, presented a talk entitled "INanoVA - The Nanotechnology Hub of Virginia." On May 30, Dr. Leda Lunardi, an IEEE EDS Distinguished Lecturer from the Optical Networks Research group at JDS Uniphase Corp, gave a presentation on "Semiconductor Devices for Fiber-Optic Communication Systems." Both meetings took place at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.

Dr. Nathan Swami addressing theEDS Chapter Meeting

Dr. Swami's talk focused on the scope of nanotechnology with special emphasis on what it can bring to the state of Virginia. Nanotechnology has been heralded as the discipline that will transform science, society, and businesses to deliver novel materials, machines, and products that are currently unavailable, and usher in a "Nanotechnology Age" to follow the current "Information Age. " In order to ensure that Virginia is poised to capitalize on this benefit, the Initiative for Nanotechnology in Virginia (INanoVA) serves to promote the growth of nanotechnology research and business development in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The recently founded INanoVA acts to enhance collaborative research, examine technology transfer and workforce development issues, and work as an information base for the nanotechnology community in Virginia. Features of the INanoVA information base (http://www.INanoVA.org), the INanoVA nanobusiness symposium (http://www.inanova.org/symposium.htm), and research programs were described.

Dr. Lunardi, EDS Distiguished Lecturer

Dr. Lunardi presented an overview of Semiconductor Devices for Fiber-Optic Communication Systems before a crowded room of engineers from a variety of IEEE Societies, including EDS, MTTS, and Women in Engineering. Her talk focused on how the race for faster optical communication systems has relied on the fiber optics "infinite" bandwidth, while putting aside the need for the essential devices that bring data to the electrical domain. Dr. Lunardi reviewed some important building blocks on optical communication systems such as state-of-the-art heterojunction-based integrated circuit technologies that have potential applications for time division multiplexing (TDM -"one fast color") and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM -"many slow colors"). Electronic systems play a vital role in the "infinite" optical bandwidth. Disruptive technologies (i.e., new devices) will likely drive future applications of fiber-optic systems.

The report of Mid-Hudson Valley EDS Chapter published in the July 2002 issue of the newsletter was submitted by Michael Hargrove.

-Murty S. Polavarapu, Editor

International Vacuum Electronics Conference (IVEC)
-by William L. Menniger

The Third IEEE International Vacuum Electronics Conference (IVEC) was held in Monterey, California, April 23-25, 2002. With nearly 400 attendees and over 200 presented papers, IVEC 2002 established a new Conference record.

Vacuum Electron Devices (VEDs), which include microwave tubes, essentially involve the extraction of RF energy from free electrons in a vacuum. VEDs are powerful, efficient, reliable and affordable devices which are used in a wide range of modern and legacy system applications. Some of these applications include military/defense, space and ground communications, radar, particle accelerators, plasma heating, homeland security, meteorology, displays, and food processing. IVEC 2002 General Chairman, Dr. Richard True of Northrop Grumman Electron Devices, San Carlos, California (formerly Litton) had this to say after the meeting: "The future for vacuum electronics and vacuum electron devices appears indeed bright."

IVEC 2002 opened with a Plenary Session in which seven distinguished scientists presented talks on a wide area of vacuum electronics science. In addition to the plenary talks, there were ten keynote talks (including two invited papers) presented in the 24 IVEC Oral Sessions. There were also two large Poster Sessions in which authors had a chance to present their work and interact with interested participants on a more personalized basis.

You can read more about the material presented at the conference by visiting the IVEC 2002 website, http://ivec2002.org, where a more complete conference summary is posted along with numerous informative links. You can reference the digest of IVEC 2002 abstracts under IEEE Catalog Number 02EX524, ISBN 0-7803-7256-5, Library of Congress: 2001095310. In addition, Dr. Dan Goebel, VED Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (T-ED) has asked authors to submit IVEC papers to IEEE T-ED, so watch there for upcoming publications from IVEC 2002.

IVEC is scheduled to repeat every other year in the USA, rotating to Europe and Asia every fourth year. IVEC 2003 will be held in Seoul, Korea, on May 28, 29, and 30 and will be held in tandem with the International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS). In 2004, IVEC will return to Monterey, and in 2005 it will be held in Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

-Sunit Tyagi, Editor

Special EDS Region 9 Chapters Representatives Meeting in Aruba
-by Adelmo Ortiz-Conde

Ilesanmi Adesida, Chair of the Educational Activities Committee; Ninoslav Stojadinovic, SRC Region 8 Chair; and Siegfried Selberherr, of the Simulation Committee, were present in the deliberations and actively shared their views and experience. Hiroshi Iwai, EDS Vice President and Regions/Chapters Chair, delivered the final words, stressing the importance for Region 9 chapters of using the facilities the Educational Activities Committee has to offer, the benefits of the DL program, and the Chapter Partners program.

The Fourth International Caracas Conference on Devices, Circuits and Systems (ICCDCS 2002) was host to a special EDS Region 9 Chapters Representatives Meeting, which took place on 17 April at Aruba's Seaport Conference Center. This special meeting was convened by the Electron Devices Society Subcommittee for Regions & Chapters - Latin America (SRC-LA) to discuss strategies for promoting membership and professional activities in the region.

The meeting was moderated by SRC-LA Chair Magali Estrada del Cueto, and was attended by delegates from several Latin American countries, as well as other EDS members and officers.

Among the initiatives that were discussed as part of the drive by SRC-LA to increase the number of active chapters are: A new Student Joint chapter in Caracas, Venezuela, a new chapter in Guadalajara, Mexico, and a new Student IEEE Section/Joint chapter in Veracruz, Mexico.

Other ongoing activities that were discussed included: A presentation by Rodolfo Quintero, Mexico Chapter Chair, about the organization of a colloquium to be held in November at the city of Puebla, with the participation of three invited DLs. Jacobus Swart, Chair of the recently activated South Brazil Chapter, illustrated some organizational aspects of the "SBMICRO" conference periodically held in Brazil. Miguel Alem‡n and Luis Resendiz of Mexico's CINVESTAV-IPN Student Branch Chapter, together with their chapter's Advisor, Antonio Cerdeira, explained the actions they are undertaking to interest undergraduate students in the area of electron devices by encouraging their participation in chapter activities.

Some of the initiatives that were decided are: actions to increase the number of Senior Members and DLs in the region, and to promote collaboration with other regions, such as by advocating R-9 DL travel to other regions.

Report of Panel Discussion
Celebrated at Aruba
-by Adelmo Ortiz-Conde

From left to right: Roberto Callarotti, Ricardo Suárez Gartner, Jesús Finol, Víctor Guzmán, Roberto Murphy, Ramiro Jordan and Santiago Navarro.

From left to right: Toshiro Hiramoto, JuinLiou,Tor Fjeldly, Adelmo Ortiz-Conde, Michael Shur and Hiroshi Iwai

A panel discussion session entitled "21st Century Electronics Engineering Education in Latin America: Academic Objectives and Industry Needs" was successfully held on 18 April 2002 at Aruba's Seaport Conference Center in conjunction with ICCDCS. The panel was headed by Dr. Jesús Finol (Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector's Chief Scientist and Director of Technology for Latin America and the Caribbean) and the invited panelists were: Dr. Roberto Callarotti (Head of the Technology Center, Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research), Prof. Ramiro Jordan (New Mexico University, USA and Executive Director of Iberoamerican Science and Technology Education Consortium), Dr. Roberto Murphy (Graduate Programs Director, "Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrínica", Mexico), Dr. Ricardo Suárez Gartner (Consultant, formerly Manager of Platform Technologies, Platform Architecture Lab, INTEL Corporation, USA), Prof. Víctor Guzmán (Universidad Simón Bolívar) and Prof. Santiago Navarro (President of Universidad Politecnica del Ecuador). New high technology enterprises in wireless communications, wireless internet, embedded system solutions, among

Dr. Palomino presented during his informal discussion a description of the experiences on handling projects in Mexico and some important organizational aspects to consider for the development of ASICs

others, are depleting the world market of technical human resources. This trend has already created a demand for over 800,000 specialists in the USA alone. In the semiconductor industry, for example, there exists a gap of over 58 million transistors between the levels of integration that current technology permits and the levels of integration which available human resources are able to provide. This is a reflection of the lack of design know-how resources. As a result, local talent in developing countries has become a priority as demonstrated by the heavy investment made by major corporations in Asia and Latin American Regions. Because of cultural reasons and less competition, the native regional work force is generally more stable, resulting in lower turn-over rates. Thus, investing in developing countries is becoming attractive for major corporations. The question arises, however, as to whether the kind of education and training being presently provided at most Latin American institutions is adequate for the needs of these high technology houses. Although present graduating engineers in Latin America have received first class traditional technical and scientific training, they are not prepared to tackle the complexity of future systems.

Report of ICCDCS-2002
-by Adelmo Ortiz-Conde

The Fourth International Caracas Conference on Devices, Circuits and Systems (ICCDCS 2002) was successfully held from 17 to 19 April 2002, at Aruba's Seaport Conference Center. ICCDCS is being held biannually since its first edition (Caracas, 1995) at different locations within the Caribbean basin. Its objective is to serve as a significant technical forum to initiate and renew direct personal relations for sharing relevant technical information among professionals involved in the disciplines related to electron devices and their circuits and systems applications.

The IEEE provides the conference's professional framework, through the responsibility assumed by Venezuela's CAS/ ED/PEL Chapter for its continuous organization, and through the technical co-sponsorship provided by the ED and CAS societies. This solid foundation was complemented in this edition by the support of three prestigious academic institutions: Simón Bolívar University (Venezuela), the University of Central Florida (USA), and CINVESTAV-IPN (Mexico); and from two corporations: Intel and Motorola.

Among the more than 130 papers submitted, about 100 were selected and presented at 16 technical sessions comprising the program's three parallel tracks. Two excellent Plenary Keynote Addresses opened the program. They dealt with wide band-gap devices and SiGe BiCMOS technology, and were delivered by two distinguished experts in these fields: Prof. Michael Shur (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Center for Integrated Electronics and Electronics Manufacturing), and Dr. David Harame (IBM Communications Research Development Center). The technical program included a panel discussion session about the future of Electronics Education in Latin America, conducted by a group of experienced panelists headed by Dr. Jesús Finol (Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector's Chief Scientist and Director of Technology for Latin America and the Caribbean).

A special meeting of EDS Region 9 Subcommittee for Regions and Chapters was hosted on the evening of 17 April. The conference's Banquet Address featured Dr. Jesús Palomino (Director of Intel's Design Center in Guadalajara, Mexico) who talked about ASIC design issues.

The fifth edition of this conference will take place during the first quarter of 2004.

For additional information, please visit the conference web site at:
http://pancho.labc.usb.ve/ICCDCS2002 . Or request it to: iccdcs@usb.ve, Telephone:+58-212-9064010Fax: +58-212-9064025.

Intel’s Jesús Palomino talks about ASIC design
-by Adelmo Ortiz-Conde

As part of the activities of the Fourth International Caracas Conference on Devices, Circuits and Systems (ICCDCS 2002), held last April at Aruba's Seaport Conference Center. Jesœs Palomino, Director of Intel Design Center in Guadalajara, Mexico, delivered the Gala Banquet Address entitled: "Challenges in ASIC design." In this short informative talk he discussed the types of challenges encountered in the development cycle of integrated circuits, restrictions imposed by technology, complexity and market issues on what is doable, and understanding of those aspects by the development team to succeed in the task.

-Adelmo Ortiz-Conde, Editor