With the aim of bringing together visionary leadership to garner the support of industry stakeholders on next-generation lithography technologies, SEMATECH announced today that Gary Patton, vice president, of IBM Semiconductor Research and Development Center, and Suresh Venkatesan, vice president, Alliance Technology Development of GLOBALFOUNDRIES, have joined the slate of industry speakers at SEMATECH's Litho Forum.
The event, to be held May 10--12, at the Marriott Marquis in New York, NY, is a unique opportunity for attendees to gain valuable insights into the challenges of and investigate realistic approaches to the development of next-generation lithography technologies.
"The range of speakers at this year's Litho Forum reflects the industry's recognition that we are at a critical juncture in finding solutions for the business and technical challenges facing lithography," said Bryan Rice, director of Lithography at SEMATECH. "Their participation provides an invaluable contribution to the industry by sharing perspectives and insights that address the full spectrum of business and technical challenges that remain to advance the industry."
The forum will kick-off on Tuesday, May 11, with keynote speaker Gary Patton sharing his perspectives on why scaling and technology advancement are both still imperatives for today's semiconductor manufacturers despite increasing costs.
Discussions aimed at finding solutions to the business and technical challenges confronting lithography will continue on Tuesday afternoon with a plenary session entitled "Affording the Roadmap." GLOBALFOUNDRIES' Suresh Venkatesan will join a lineup of senior industry executives from Qualcomm, SEMATECH, IMEC, Intel, TSMC, Samsung, Texas Instruments, and Semiconductor Industry Association to exchange innovative strategies that have enabled them to develop cutting-edge technology solutions while maintaining profitability.
On Wednesday, May 12, academic leaders and equipment and materials suppliers from Hitachi, IBM, TSMC, the University of Wisconsin, Tokyo Electron Limited, and GLOBALFOUNDRIES will share progress and prospects for current, new, and alternative technologies. That afternoon, speakers from Applied Materials, ASML, KLA-Tencor, AZ Electronic Materials, Dow Chemical Company, Photronics, Molecular Imprints, Nikon, and Toshiba will discuss economic challenges for litho equipment makers in areas such as the supply chain, industry consolidation, and other cost constraints.
The two-day forum will be divided into business and technical perspectives focusing on government-industry alliances that support innovation, collaborations to share capital costs, prospects for new and alternative technologies, and real-life ways companies have been forced to change to maintain profitability amid escalating R&D costs. Topics covered will include industry consolidation and collaboration, cost pressures, innovations to keep technology affordable, and recent technical advances as well as remaining challenges/potential showstoppers.
Additionally, SEMATECH's Litho Forum will offer attendees the opportunity to participate in the forum survey, a real-time assessment of the status and direction of next-generation lithography technologies. The survey results, which provide an industry-wide representation of the perceptions of both strategic decision makers and technologists on the health of lithography options, will be presented at the closing dinner of the forum.
Visit SEMATECH's website www.sematech.org to learn more about the conference or to register for this event.