Oct 22, 2009

From EDN: sales are up!

SEMI: Bookings rise y/y for first time since May 2007, industry continues to improve

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $732.8 million in orders last month and an improved book-to-bill ratio of 1.17, according to SEMI's September book-to-bill report.

By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News -- Electronic News, 10/21/2009

The semiconductor industry's overall situation continued to improve in September, according to the latest data from SEMI.

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $732.8 million in orders in September and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.17, according to SEMI's September book-to-bill report.

A book-to-bill of 1.17 means that $117 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month. The August book-to-bill ratio was 1.06.

The September bookings figure is 19.3% greater than the final August level of $614.5 million and 12.8% greater than the $649.9 million in orders posted in September 2008.

Meanwhile, billings in September were $624.6 million, a 7.7% improvement on the August level of $580 million but nearly 33% less than the August 2008 billings level of $927.3 million.

And you can access the full article at the original website.

Oct 19, 2009

Correction on ISFE'2010

I apologize, but I made a mistake on the entry about ISFE'2010. The correct dates when the Symposium will be held are April 12-14 2010. Please take this new dates into account!

Oct 15, 2009

[mos-ak] MOS-AK/GSA Workshop in Baltimore: 1st announcement

Date:
* Dec.9, 2009
* collocated with
o IEDM Conference (Dec.6-9 <http://www.his.com/~iedm/general/
schedule.html
>)
o CMC Meeting (Dec.10-11<http://www.geia.org/index.asp?
bid=597
>)
Location:
* Johns Hopkins University at Homewood Campus in the Computational
Sciences and Engineering
o Building (CSEB) Room CSEB 17
o free on-line registration
o http://www.mos-ak.org/baltimore/register.php
o General visitor information for JHU
o http://webapps.jhu.edu/jhuniverse/information_about_hopkins/visitor_information/
o Map of the campus
o http://www.mos-ak.org/baltimore/campus_map_0907.pdf
Audience:
* about 50+ (similar to http://mos-ak.org/sanfrancisco/)
* 6-8 invited noted speakers presenting academia and industry
o plus a poster session
* panel discussion at the end of the workshop
o Compact models QA validation: Still a challenge?
Synopsis:
* HiTech forum to discuss the frontiers of the compact/spice
modeling
* MOS-AK/GSA Meetings are organized with aims to strengthen a
network and discussion forum among experts in the field, enhance open
platform for information exchange related to compact/Spice modeling,
bring people in the compact modeling field together, as well as obtain
feedback from technology developers, circuit designers, and CAD tool
vendors. The topics cover all important aspects of compact model
development, implementation, deployment and standardization within the
main theme - frontiers of the compact modeling for nm-scale CMOS/SOI
circuit simulation.
* The specific workshop goal will be to classify the most
important directions for the future development of the compact models
and to clearly identify areas that need further research. This
workshop is designed for device process engineers (CMOS, SOI, BiCMOS,
SiGe) who are interested in device modeling; ICs designers (RF/Analog/
Mixed-Signal/SoC) and those starting in that area as well as device
characterization, modeling and parameter extraction engineers. The
content will be beneficial for anyone who needs to learn what is
really behind the IC simulation in modern device models.

Program:
* Topics (open list):
o electronic abstracts submission
o http://www.mos-ak.org/baltimore/abstracts.php
* Advanced MOST compact models for the bulk/SOI and compound
technologies
* Alternative models for analog/RF and HV applications
* High level behavioral languages (Verilog/VHDL) for compact
models standardization
* CAD tools for model implementation
* Parameter extraction, model QA and lib generation and validation
* GNU/open source software support

Speakers:
* I. Angelov: "Fundamentals of FET Device Modelling for GaN, SiC,
GaAs and CMOS"
* A.G. Andreou: TBD
* G. Coram: "Verilog-A standardization and model validation"
* B. Iniguez: "COMON: EU compact modeling project"
* J. J. Liou: TBD
* M. Mierzwinski: "Practical Considerations for Developing,
Debugging, and Releasing Verilog-A Models"
* C.G. Montoro: "CMOS Analog Design Using All-Region MOSFET
Modeling"
* M. Reece: TBD
* J. Victory: TBD

Publication:
* The MOS-AK presentation will be available on-line after the
event
* Selected papers will be recommended for further publications
o Solid-State Electronics
o International Journal of Numerical Modeling

Committee:
* Andreas G. Andreou, JHU; Technical Program Chair
* Pekka Ojala, Exar; MOS-AK/GSA WG North America Chair
* Gilson I Wirth; UFRGS; MOS-AK/GSA WG South America Chair
* Ehrenfried Seebacher, austriamicrosystems AG; MOS-AK/GSA WG
Europe Chair
* Al Kordesch, Silterra Malaysia; MOS-AK/GSA WG Asia/Pacific Chair
* Chelsea Boone GSA; Senior Research Analyst
* Darryl Leavitt, GSA; Director of Events
* Wladek Grabinski, GMC Suisse; MOS-AK/GSA Workshop Manager
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Oct 1, 2009

[mos-ak] MOS-AK/GSA Athens meeting on-line publications

MOS-AK/GSA Athens meeting on-line publications are available:
http://www.mos-ak.org/athens/
http://www.mos-ak.org/athens/posters.php

I would like to thank all MOS-AK contributors, speakers and
presenters, for sharing their compact modeling competence, R&D
experience and delivering valuable MOS-AK presentations. I am sure,
that our modeling event in Athens was beneficial to all MOS-AK
Workshop attendees and the ESSDERC/ESSCIRC conference participants. My
extra "Thank You" goes to our special guest Larry Nagel, who has
kindly accepted our invitation to present vital live of the SPICE.

Organization of our modeling event would not be possible with our
generous sponsor: Accelicon, Helic, Tanner and Toshiba. I also would
like to personally acknowledge local ESSDERC/ESSCIRC organizers, in
particular Prof. Bucher for his dedication, commitment and providing
smooth logistics.

Selected MOS-AK presentations will be recommended for further
publication thru our Technical MOS-AK/GSA Program Promoters and
individual authors will be informed by a separate email.

I hope, we would have a next chance to meet all of you and your
academic and industrial partners at future MOS-AK/GSA modeling
events.

-- with best regards - WG for the MOS-AK/GSA Group;
==========================================================
* Luzern: Oct. 18-20, www.nanonets.org
* Baltimre: Dec'09, www.mos-ak.org
* Rome: April 8-9 www.mos-ak.org/rome
* Wroclaw: June 24-26 www.mixdes.org
* Seville: Sept. 18 www.mos-ak.org
==========================================================
GSA and MOS-AK Merge Efforts to Form the GSA Modeling Working Group
http://www.gsaglobal.org/news/article.asp?article=2009/0304
==========================================================

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Sep 29, 2009

new IEEE Senior Members (sep-2009)

Congratulations to the new Senior members of the IEEE EDS (September 2009):

Ahmadi, Vahid; Buehler, M; Feng, Lucia; Goel, Niti; Hales, Rex; Hirschman, Karl; Liu, Ming; Pratt, T; Selmi, Luca; Srinivasan, Purushothaman; Xue, Jie; Zhang, Zhaochuan

Sep 28, 2009

Second International Symposium on Flexible Electronics (ISFE)

The Second International Symposium on Flexible Electronics (ISFE) will be held in from April 12-14 2010 in Palma de Mallorca (Illes Balears, Spain). I will be the Chairman of this Symposium, together with Past Chair, Dr. Benjamin Iñiguez and Prof. Michael Shur. This Symposium will provide an opportunity to present and discuss recent advances in all topics related to flexible electronics, from the material to the circuit and system levels. The enormous increase of the applications of Flexible Electronics makes it necessary to create such a conference. The scientific program consists of invited and contributed presentations as well as one poster session.

Papers are solicited on the following topics (but without excluding others):
Materials for Flexible Electronics, Processing for Flexible Electronics, Device technologies, Physics and Characterization of TFTs on flexible substrates, Amorphous and polycristalline TFT, Transparent TFT, Organic and polymer TFT, OLED physics and characterization, Numerical and compact modeling of TFTs and OLEDs, TFT circuits on flexible substrates, Flexible AM-LCDs, Flexible AM-OLEDs, Flexible PVDs, Flexible large-area sensors and actuators...

The deadline for abstract submission will be November 15, 2009, but abstracts for posters are accepted until December 15, 2009.

ISFE is organized by the Engineering Conferences International Foundation, together with the Universitat de les Illes Balears (the university of Mallorca, to which the Chairman, that is, myself, belongs).


For those of you that do not know them, the Balearic Islands are located 200 km east from the coast of Spain, in the Mediterranean Sea. This privileged location, with flight time below than 30 minutes from Barcelona, or 2 hours from Berlin or London, make them a preferred touristic destination. Moreover, they enjoy a very nice climate, with temperatures that rarely go down 10ºC in winter, and are around 20-25º in springtime.

Mallorca, the biggest of the Balearic Islands, is an island where you can find anything nearby. You can go climbing in the Serra de Tramuntana, which are a set of mountains 100 km long, dominating the north-western part of the island, or you can go to the any of the fantastic beaches. You can choose among touristic destinations like Platja de Palma or S'Arenal, close to the airport, or you can go 30 km further and find yourself in near virgin beaches in Sa Rapita or Es Trenc. Swimming season in Balearic Islands starts usually around May 1st, and goes on up to the end of September or even October, so there is no need to hurry.

Palma, the capital of Balearic Islands, is a cultural city, an easily accessible city, where everything is close by. Beautifully arranged as a fan towards the sea, the city is marked by the cultures that have lived on the island along its history. Palma invites you to discover its buildings and the monuments that portray the evolution of aesthetic trends during the centuries, that are visible in more than 700 streets in its historic downtown. This is where you will find the footprint of all those civilizations that have contributed to its building. A city that invites you to display creativity, as so many artists have done in the past, inspired by its warm and magic light.

Transportation is another of the strong points of the Balearic Islands. Palma airport (Son Sant Joan) is one of the biggest airports in Europe. It is very well connected to all major cities in Europe through both regular and charter flights, and many low-cost companies also fly to and from Palma.

I truly encourage researchers on flexible electronics to submit abstracts to ISFE, and have good chances to get to know the most recent developments in the field, to make useful networking and also to enyoy some days in the beautiful city of Palma!

Sep 23, 2009

BBC News: Meeting the man behind Moore's Law

Chip future... But, Dr Moore says, the industry can only go on shrinking transistors for so long. Eventually, the features will become so small that the atomic structure of the materials will be a limitation, possibly spelling the end of Moore's Law.

So what does he think will happen in the next 40 years?

"I'm through with making predictions," Moore chuckles. "Get it right once and quit."

Read More...