Printed Circuit Design & Fab Online Magazine - Current Issue

Forefront

Jan Vardaman

Large crowds mulled the latest substrate trends and new developments in 3-D IC hybrid bonding.

The IEEE Electronics Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) returned to an in-person conference at the end of May with more than 1,500 attendees, domestic and international. Attendance in San Diego matched pre-pandemic numbers. While some presentations remained virtual, using video recording, many were onsite. A variety of electronics packaging topics were discussed. Judging by the crowded rooms, this year’s hot topic was 3-D IC hybrid bonding.

Advanced packaging. A pre-conference Heterogeneous Integration Roadmap workshop discussed trends in networking for the future and new developments in advanced packaging for high-performance computing and data centers. The workshop concluded with a panel of presenters discussing the latest trends in medical health and wearables.

Plenary sessions covered some of the latest topics. The MicroLED display session focused on high-volume manufacturing progress and challenges. In a session on the evolution of IC substrate technology, panelists from Intel, Amkor, Ajinomoto, AT&S and Atotech discussed the latest substrate trends.

Read more: ECTC Highlights Next-Generation Packaging Challenges

Jan Vardaman

Can we build on past successes of cost and task sharing?

Much attention is focused on the importance of boosting electronics manufacturing in the US, but in a recent interview, Emmanuel Sabonnadiere, CEO of CEA-Leti, called R&D the roots of the tree of manufacturing. What a great analogy. Without successful R&D in the electronics industry, successful manufacturing is not possible. Creating the best ecosystem to foster R&D is key.

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Read more: R&D: The Roots of the Manufacturing Tree

Jan Vardaman

Does Moore’s law apply to the new HI frontier?

The IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) held a night panel discussion on Dec. 10 titled Rest in Peace Moore’s Law, Long Live AI. As the title suggests, the discussion focused on the future of computing and the role of hardware. The moderator proposed questions like will CMOS technology become commoditized and differentiation occur mostly in circuit design, algorithm and architecture development? Will special purpose coprocessor adoption rates accelerate beyond CPUs and GPUs? What is the role of heterogeneous integration in the AI hardware ecosystem? Will the traditional memory hierarchy be upended by the arrival of non-volatile memory? Will analog accelerators using non-volatile memory elements drive the future semiconductor roadmap as scaling slows, enabling exponential improvements in compute efficiency and performance? Not all the questions were answered, but the discussion was lively.

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