Chapters News

I am pleased to begin this issue by announcing that six SSCS chapters have been inaugurated since my last column. I'd like to take the opportunity to welcome the following new members: Aachen, Germany (H. Blume); Greece (CAS/SSCS: A. Skodras); Minsk, Belarus (Poland section: S. Mulyarchik); New South Wales, Australia (CAS/SSC: N. Weste); Novosibirsk (student chapter: I. Novikov); and Ukraine (ED/MTT/CPMT/SSC: N. Voitovich). This brings our total strength to 30 chapters. As ever, if you would like to participate in chapter activities please contact the relevant office; address and email information is available at the SSCS home page, www.sscs.org/info/society/chapter.htm. And if you would like to start a new or joint chapter in your section, you can contact me or Ms. Anne O'Neill of the SSCS office.

The meeting of SSCS chapters chairs at the ISSCC 9 February 2000.

Top row, l-r: Paul Yu, Dallas chapter; CK Wang, Taiwan chapter; Asad Abidi, Los Angeles/Orange County; Quiting Huang, Zurich Chapter; Peter Kennedy, Ireland chapter; Jay Rajagopalan, Santa Clara Valley Chapter; Mortara Alessandro, West Switzerland Chapter, Bill Hunt, Ireland Chapter.

Front row, l-r: Jan Van der Spiegel, SSCS Chapters Coordinator; Moon-Key Lee and Kwang S. Yoon, Seoul Chapter; Azhand Movaghar, Vice-Chair Baltimore Chapter; Joe Borel, organizing Grenoble, France chapter; Jonathan David, member SSCS Chapters Committee.

Absent for photo: Sergio Bampi, organizing a Brazil chapter; Ali Fotowat, Shariff University Iran, Faculty advisor; Chris Mangelsdorf, member SSCS Chapters Committee; and Toshiaki Masuhara, Tokyo Chapter.

The second SSCS Chapter meeting was held during the week of the ISSCC on 9 February 2000 over lunch. Twenty people attended and 10 chapters were represented (Boston, Dallas, Iran, Ireland, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Seoul, Taipei, West Switzerland, and Zurich). The meeting was a good opportunity for everyone to get to know each other and to share chapter experiences. Anne O'Neill gave a brief presentation about the Distinguished Lecture series and encouraged representatives to take advantage of this unique service provided to chapters at no cost. A list of Distinguished Lecturers can be obtained by sending an email to info.distlect.ssc@ieee.org. Anne also invited the chapters to submit brief write-ups of their activities for publication in the SSCS newsletter.

Several representatives described their chapter best practices. Peter Kennedy (Ireland) talked about his chapter's membership drive and reported on several technical events it had co-organized. T. Masuhara, reporting on behalf of T. Imamura, described a group of activities sponsored and cosponsored by the Japan Chapter. M. K. Lee and K. S. Yoon provided some background on the Seoul Chapter, which has been involved in educational, professional, and outreach programs. The Seoul Chapter also sponsored the visits of several Distinguished Lecturers, organized local meetings, and arranged the Asia-Pacific Conference on ASICs. P. Yu of the Dallas Chapter talked about his group's activities and mentioned that they had also invited several Distinguished Lecturers. C. K. Wang reported on the International Analog VLSI workshop organized by the Taipei Chapter, and various other projects, such as the organization of circuit design short courses and a membership drive among university students. Finally, A. Abidi talked about the activities of the Los Angeles Chapter and shared his experience of best chapters practices.

New Outstanding Chapter Award

I am pleased to announce that the AdCom approved an "Outstanding Chapter Award" at the February meeting in San Francisco, a prize that aims to acknowledge the excellent work done by the various chapters. It will be given to a chapter that has shown consistently excellent leadership and outstanding initiative in organizing activities. Selection will be based on several factors: the quality and quantity of activities and programs, the accrual of practical benefits for local members, demonstrations of successful outreach to the professional community, and growth in chapter size. Nominations for the award can be made by members of the SSCS Chapters Committee, SSCS AdCom members, or any individual SSCS member. Nominations need to be made using the Chapters Award Nomination form available on the SSCS Web site. All nominations need to be received by 31 April. The award will be given to a Chapter Representative during the week of the ISSCC. The award will consist of a certificate and a check of $1,000.

Activities Report of IEEE/SSCS Beijing Chapter

Activities in 1999

IEEE/SSCS Beijing Chapter is a new chapter that was established in late 1999. The major activities in 1999 have been the organization and establishment of the chapter. Formalities started in June 1999, and the IEEE approved the Chapter in October 1999. Even before the establishment of the IEEE/SSCS Beijing Chapter, all IEEE/SSCS members in China had been participating in academic activities as individuals.

In fact, most IEEE/SSCS members are involved in a variety of activities. For example, Professor Wang Yangyuan served as the Conference Honorary Chair of ICDA2000, one of the eight associated conferences of WCC2000, 16th IFIP World Computer Congress. Professor Tang Xiaofang served as the secretary of WCC2000. Another example is the training course conducted by experts in integrated circuits design. In April 1999, Professor Willy Sansen of KU Leuven, one of the SSCS Distinguished Lecturers, conducted a successful two-week course in Shanghai, China. More than 80 engineers from Chinese industries, including IEEE/SSCS members participated. In August 1999, Professor Zhihua Wang of Tsinghua University conducted a summer short course on structural VLSI design at Tsinghua University. More than 60 engineers from industry and teachers from universities participated in the activity.

The plans for chapter activities

Starting in 1996, an EDA Technique Competition among graduates students has been held every two years in China. Competition is by teams. Each university can select one or two teams with three students per team. The two-part competition lasts two days. The first part is an examination that tests each student's knowledge of EDA and VLSI design. The second part requires completion of a design according to a given specification. Each team completes a design, including the necessary documentation and simulation. The score for each team is the weighted sum of the score of each student for the two parts of the competition. In 1996 and 1998, students from more than 20 universities in China took part in the Competition. The IEEE/SSCS Beijing Chapter plans to participate in the organization of the Competition as a Chapter body.

Activities of the Ireland Chapter

Participants at Ireland Chapter Roundtable Discussion on Reliability and Design for Test of Microelectronics.

l-r: John Jennings (Xilinx), Peter Kennedy (University College Cork), Paul Furlong (S3), James O'Riordan (S3), Stephen Sunter (LogicVision), Manuel d'Abreu (Level One), Erik Jan Marinissen (Philips), Javier Arguelles (S3).

Software Radio and Noise in Mixed-Signal ICS

Professor Fred Harris of San Diego State University presented a lecture at University College Dublin entitled "An Easy Trap: Digital Radios are not Digitized Analog Radios." The lecture, which was co-sponsored by the IEEE Signal Processing Society, was videotaped and later shown in Cork.

"Modelling and Simulation of the Interference due to Digital Switching in Mixed-Signal ICs" was the topic of a lecture by Peter Feldmann of Bell Laboratories which was cosponsored by the MTT, AP, ED, and LEOS Societies.

Reliability and Design for Test of Microelectronics

The SSCS Ireland Chapter hosted a roundtable discussion at University College Dublin on "Reliability and Design for Test of Micro-electronics."

Panelist Erik Jan Marinissen from Philips Research focused on DFT challenges. Stephen Sunter of LogicVision addressed design for high fault coverage, design for diagnosis, and design for lifetime testing. Manuel d'Abreu from Level One discussed reliability problems resulting from current and future trends in processing technology.

Chapter Chair on the Move

Peter Kennedy, Chairman of the Ireland Chapter, has been appointed Professor of Microelectronics at University College Cork.

ESSDERC Comes to Ireland

ESSDERC 2000, the 30th European Solid-State Device Research Conference, will be held in Cork, Republic of Ireland, 11Ð13 September 2000. The main themes of the conference include CMOS devices and reliability, micro-systems and packaging, interconnect and integrated passive devices, process and device modeling and simulation, silicon based solid-state devices, and silicon integrated technology and manufacturing. There are also two Short Courses to be held on Reliability for Advanced Technologies and Nanoscale Technology.

Regional Meetings

16th International Federation for Information Processing IFIP World Computer Congress 2000

International Program Committee
    Chair: Benjamin W. Wah (USA)
    Vice Chairs: Yang Fuqing (China),
    Reinhard Posch (Austria)

The main technical components of the Congress will be the following eight federated conferences, together with various keynote and plenary speeches, panels, workshops, Youth Summit, Pioneer Day, a student competition, and a major industry exhibition. Technical visits to Chinese universities and research institutes will be arranged upon mutual interest.

International Conference on Communications, Computers & Devices ICCCD 2000

14-16 December 2000
Tutorials: 14 December 2000
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India
www.iitkgp.ernet.in/ccd2000

Jan Van der Spiegel
SSCS Chapters Coordinator
IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society
jan@ee.upenn.edu