ISMI News

ISMI Symposium Offers Productivity Survival Tools to IC Makers

Austin, TX (30 Aug. 2004) - Giving semiconductor manufacturers the 21st Century productivity tools they'll need to stay leading-edge and profitable amid turbulent economic conditions will be the focus of the ISMI Symposium on Manufacturing Effectiveness, to be held Oct. 25-28 at the Omni Hotel Austin.

Open to the public, the Symposium is organized by the International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI), the world's only consortium devoted solely to solving semiconductor manufacturing issues. Sponsors include IDC Architects, JMP, and M+Zander.

The meeting's theme - "Get Ready for the Revolution in Fab Productivity!" - highlights three days of presentations, commentary, discussions among industry experts and more than 50 papers, all designed to provide attendees with:

  • Exclusive data on maximizing fab productivity
  • Familiarity with cutting-edge statistical tools for improving manufacturing effectiveness and slashing costs
  • Look-aheads at future manufacturing challenges, including fully automated fabs, and the paths to 100% die yield and theoretical cycle time
  • Reviews of "green fab" designs from expert case studies, and tips on meeting future-fab design requirements
  • Trends in sustaining improvements in IC productivity and profitability, outlined by a panel of industry experts that will include Sam Angelos, Hewlett-Packard; Dan Hutcheson, VLSI Research; Robert Leachman, UC Berkeley; Stuart McIntosh, ASML; Devadas Pillai, Intel; Louis Steen, Tokyo Electron America; and John Schmitz and Randy Goodall, International SEMATECH (A media briefing and question/answer session with the expert panelists will conclude the Symposium's second full day on Oct. 27.)

"The ISMI Symposium will focus on reducing IC production costs through advances in equipment, processes, resources, fab design, and manufacturing methods," said Scott Kramer, ISMI director. "We'll address key manufacturing issues along three parallel tracks: productivity, fab design, and statistical methods. And we will also offer a rare, suited tour of the Advanced Technology Development Facility (ATDF), the advanced R&D fab that serves SEMATECH and other industry customers."

Opening the Symposium will be Judge Jeff Moseley, CEO, Economic Development & Tourism, Office of the Governor of Texas, and Michael R. Polcari, SEMATECH's president and CEO. Keynote speakers will include James E. Doran, executive vice president and board member of Spansion LLC and senior vice president for AMD, on how to piece together the "competitive puzzle" to keep a company strong and prosperous; and Shaunna Sowell, vice president and manager of Texas Instruments' DFAB facility, with facts on how communities can retain their manufacturing base.

Industry professionals who are interested in attending the symposium should contact Mike Schwartz or Phil Naughton, Symposium co-chairs, at ismi.symposium@sematech.org.

Reporters and editors wishing to cover the meeting are invited to contact Dan McGowan at 512-356-3440 or media.relations@sematech.org.