Many exhibitors interviewed felt floor traffic was down from last year due to the show's location.

SEMICON West San Francisco Verdict: It Was a Hit! (Mostly)

The Irish dramatist Oscar Wilde once wrote, "It is an odd thing, but every one who disappears is said to be seen at San Francisco. It must be a delightful city, and possess all the attractions of the next world."

The powers that be at SEMI certainly must have had their fingers crossed that this shot at reuniting front end with backend would work in Wilde's "delightful city" by the bay. At the end of the day, it appears that SEMI's gamble paid off.

Before the show, people who were negative about moving the backend from San Jose's McEnery Convention Center to San Francisco to reunite the two parts after a seven-year separation were really negative.

Doing Battle with Traffic

The most frequent comment heard by the Chip Scale Review editors was that many customers from San Jose would not devote a full day to do battle with San Francisco's legendary traffic snarls.

Mehran Jafarzadeh, vice president of Contech Solutions, a maker of test interface products in San Leandro, felt the San Francisco location made it tough for "engineers to leave work because it takes a whole day away from the office."

Bruce DeChillo, product manager for Aries Electronics, Frenchtown, N.J., felt attendance was "a little slow for the backend people. I favor San Jose; it's closer to our customers."

Competitor Jamie Andes, product manager-semiconductor products for Synergetix of Kansas City, Kan., agreed. "I think more people are likely to go to San Jose; that's what I've heard from my customers; still, I like that the front end is here."

More Expense

Another complaint involved the added expense of San Francisco compared to San Jose. Food and lodging in San Francisco are a significant multiple of the costs of San Jose, a growing city which is not cheap by anyone's standards.

Several exhibitors, who declined to be named, decried what they felt was the heavy hand they were subjected to by union movers and the official show caterers. One exhibitor bemoaned the fact that out of the total cost of his booth, some 15 percent went for small trays of food.

Additionally, there were reports that items that had gone mysteriously missing suddenly were turned up by union crews on the promise of a gratuity.

Ironically, the reunification, which shortened SEMICON West from five days to three days, led to some visitor complaints that with the combined front end/backend, there was simply not enough time to see everything that needed to be seen.

Anna Gualtieri, marketing chief of SPEL Semiconductor, San Jose, an India-based packaging foundry, observed, "People are spread out all over. There might be a lot of people here, but there are so many different areas that it's hard to tell. It's a good show, though, with a lot of companies."

With the close of this year's SEMICON West, RoHS, the lead-free European directive, is barely a year away from becoming law. Still, while the "no-lead" Pb symbol with a slash through it, was visible at many booths, Pb-free did not seem to represent a significant theme at the backend.

Convergence Seen

Instead, the theme of this year's get-together appeared to be more a matter of confluence and convergence, with many people now believing that the proximity of front end to back end at SEMICON West is a good thing.

March Plasma Systems, a Nordson business unit, displayed a new, wafer-based "Flextrak" system dedicated to wafer-level processing and intended for use prior to typical backend applications.

"We've seen a lot of people from the front end coming to the backend to look around," reported Dr. James Getty, director of applications and business development for March Plasma in Concord, Calif.

The combined show also meant that visitors and exhibitors might once again see the friends they had missed for the past seven years.

"I'm originally from the front end," noted Dr. Getty. "For me, it's been great to see friends and family from the front end. It's been an interesting experience for us."

Gary Catlin, a packaging industry vet who visited the show this year, liked the combined venue. Catlin, who is now microelectronics engineering supervisor at Plexus in Nampa, Idaho, saw equipment that he didn't expect to see on the floor.

"I've seen vision equipment that's been useful because it helped me understand what's now possible." Catlin, who missed the San Jose show last year, was in San Francisco to "help our suppliers equip their facilities to meet our specs."

David Pfaff, Plastronics

Wider Overlap

Udi Efrat of Camtek Ltd., Israel, liked SEMI combining back and front ends. "I think it's important because I am seeing a wider and wider overlap between the wafer manufacturing and finishing processes, especially when you talk about our business area of inspection."

Craig Mitchell, vice president of marketing at Tessera, San Jose, said, "The jury is still out." Mitchell contends that separating the backend gave it a "real focus." He admitted that "It's not as bad as it once was in San Francisco, however, when backend and front end were together."

'A Lot Funner Up Here'

"It's a lot 'funner' up here, but there are not as many customers for test and burn-in. The guys we deal with on a day-to-day basis are not coming up to the City," declared David Pfaff, president of Plastronics of Irving, Texas.

Exhibitors, believing that attendance fell over last year, also were privately wondering, often aloud, if SEMICON West has outgrown itself as an international show-and if sponsor SEMI has become too big and too unfocused to serve its members and the industry in its current incarnation.

The biggest kudos went not to SEMI, but to the Moscone West building, which was light and airy, compared to the older Moscone North and South Halls, which are windowless and cavern-like on the lower levels.

We expect that most exhibitors will return for year two of the united show. The ones that won't be back are those that were stationed on the third floor of Moscone West. SEMI failed to note the presence of this group of exhibitors, who spent most of their exhibit time chatting among themselves.

-Ron Iscoff, Editor (Senior Editor Terry Thompson contributed to this report.)

Jack St. Clair Kilby holds a handful of TI semiconductors. (Texas Instruments)

Jack S. Kilby, Inventor and Nobel Laureate, Remembered

By Ron Iscoff, Editor

Dallas-Jack St. Clair Kilby, a retired Texas Instruments engineer and a Nobel Laureate, whose genius enabled him to play a key role in the invention of the integrated circuit and the growth of the semiconductor industry, has died.

His death came after a brief battle with cancer. Mr. Kilby was 81.

According to Texas Instruments [ti.com], the firm he worked for most of his professional life, Mr. Kilby, a native of Kansas, knew he wanted to be an engineer early in life.

Mr. Kilby began studying electrical engineering at the University of Illinois, but World War II intervened and he joined the Army. After the war, Mr. Kilby returned to the University and completed his bachelor's degree in 1947.

After graduation, he took a job with Centralab in Milwaukee, where he first worked with transistors. While at Centralab, he returned to school at the University of Wisconsin, earning a master's degree in electrical engineering in 1950.

Figure 1 from Dr. Noyce's patent 2,981,877 "Semiconductor Device-and-Lead Structure" (USPTO)

Working for Texas Instruments

In 1958, Mr. Kilby moved to Dallas to work for TI. As a new employee, he was not entitled to the August vacation that was shared by most TI workers at the time. It was during this relatively "quiet time," he said later, that the thought behind his invention was born.

In a 1980 interview, he recalled that he was "sitting at a desk, probably stayed there a little longer than usual. Most of it (the invention) formed pretty clearly during the course of that day. When I was finished, I had some drawings in a notebook, which I showed to my supervisor when he returned. There was some slight skepticism, but basically they realized its importance."

The circuit was tested on Sept. 12, 1958. In 1960, TI announced that it had produced the first ICs for customer evaluation.

Circuits for Minuteman Missile

Two years later, according to the company, TI announced that it had won its first major IC contract. This was to design and build a family of 22 special circuits for the Minuteman missile.

"In my opinion, there are only a handful of people whose works have truly transformed the world and the way we live in it-Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, the Wright Bros. and Jack Kilby"-noted TI Chairman Tom Engibous in a press release.

"If there was ever a seminal invention that transformed not only our industry, but our world, it was Jack's invention of the first integrated circuit," he added.

Although TI contends that Mr. Kilby was the sole inventor of the IC, most industry observers credit both Mr. Kilby and the Late Dr. Robert N. Noyce, co-founder of Intel, who died suddenly in 1990, with the invention.

The late Dr. Robert N. Noyce (Intel Corp.)

Patents

Both TI, naming Mr. Kilby as inventor, and Fairchild Semiconductor, naming Dr. Noyce as inventor, applied for patents for the IC in 1959.

"I was fortunate enough to have worked a little with Jack Kilby during my few years at TI," Dr. Gerald K. "Skip" Fehr, industry veteran, told Chip Scale Review. "He was truly a scholar and a gentleman. Then I left TI and joined Intel.

"Bob Noyce and Jack Kilby were the joint inventors of the IC and they were friends," Dr. Fehr observed. "They were two of the most outstanding people I have had the opportunity to know personally."

Dr. Subash Khadpe, editor and publisher of Semiconductor Packaging Update, and a former member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Labs, observed, "I think it's true that Jack Kilby was one of the great inventors of the 20th Century.

"After a long legal battle between TI and Fairchild Semiconductor, Jack Kilby was given credit for co-inventing the IC with the late Dr. Robert Noyce, who co-founded Intel after leaving Fairchild Semiconductor.

"However, I consider the invention of the transistor by Drs. John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley of Bell Labs in 1947 to be far more important because it gave birth to the worldwide semiconductor industry and the information age."

Figure 6a from TI's IC patent 3,138,743 "Miniaturized Electronic Circuits" (USPTO)

Dr. Khadpe says that the invention of the IC was a natural extension of the transistor. "In 1952, G.W.A. Dummer of the Royal Radar Establishment first suggested the concept of a monolithic IC at the IEEE Electronics Components Conference in Washington, D.C.

"Two men, L. Derick and C.J. Frosch of Bell Labs, invented 'oxide masking' in the 1950s. Jean Hoerni of Fairchild Semiconductor developed the 'planar process' in 1958 based on oxide masking, and Robert Noyce's invention of the IC in 1959 was based on the planar process."

Today's ICs, Dr. Khadpe contends, are based on fundamental processes developed at Bell Labs in the 1950s and later on Hoerni's and Noyce's inventions.

This is the IC invented by Jack Kilby. (Texas Instruments)

Joseph C. Fjelstad, founder of SiliconPipe Inc. said that Mr. Kilby "has passed into the pantheon of the world's great scientists, inventors and engineers who have, by their contributions, changed the course of human history. He will be missed, but his memory and the legacy he left will unquestionably live on."

Mr. Kilby holds over 60 patents and has also been credited by TI as a co-inventor of the calculator.

Mr. Kilby is credited with being a co-inventor of the first electronic calculator, developed at TI in 1967. An IC contains the electronics. (Texas Instruments)

Nobel Prize

In 2001, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences presented one-half of the Nobel Prize in Physics to Mr. Kilby-more than 42 years after the invention of the IC! (See Chip Scale Review "Assembly Lines," Jan.-Feb. 2001).

The other half of the prize was given to two scientists for their work on heterostructures. Because the prize is not awarded posthumously, Dr. Noyce did not share in the award.

Before he retired from TI in 1983, Mr. Kilby held several engineering management posts, including assistant vice president. In 1970, he became director of engineering and technology for the Components Group before taking a leave of absence to become an independent consultant.

He maintained a "significant relationship" with TI until his death.

Survivors include two daughters and five granddaughters. His wife, Barbara Annegers Kilby, and a sister, Jane Kilby, preceded him in death.

Rafi Amit

Camtek Will 'Vigorously Defend' August Technology Patent Suit

Migdal Haemek, Israel-Camtek Ltd. says "it will vigorously defend a lawsuit claiming patent infringement" filed against it by August Tech-nology of Bloomington, Minn., in July.

August Technology, which is merging with Rudolph Technologies, filed the patent infringement suit in the U.S. Federal Court in Minneapolis. August alleges that Camtek's inspection equipment, sold under the "Falcon" name, infringes on August Technology's U.S. patent 6,826,298.

Rafi Amit, Camtek CEO, in response to the suit, said, "August's claim of patent infringement is a baseless attempt to block Camtek's penetration and growth into the semiconductor manufacturing and packaging industry, and actually represents another proof of Camek's threatening position in the market.

Camtek's Falcon inspection system

"Our growth will continue as long as our customers recognize and reward quality and innovation."

Orbotech Litigation

In a separate action, Camtek announced that it has sued Orbotech in the Tel Aviv (Israel) District Court. The lawsuit is attempting to recover damages "caused to Camtek and Priortech" (Camtek's parent company), "as a result of Orbotech's request for a preliminary injunction," according to a news release.

Camtek says the preliminary injunction, "which attempted to prevent Camtek from marketing two of its leading products, was cancelled on the same day it was received by Camtek."

Camtek maintains that Orbotech's suit was submitted "immediately prior to the date of pricing of Camtek's proposed secondary offering on the NASDAQ, which caused the delay and eventual cancellation of the offering."

The inspection equipment maker is initially seeking $4,100,000 from the litigation, although Camtek had proposed to raise a total of nearly $40 million from the secondary offering.

The Camtek litigation relates to an Orbotech suit filed in the District Court of Jerusalem, Israel, where Orbotech received a temporary restraining order against Camtek for the "apparent infringement of Orbotech's Israeli patent covering an optical head used in PCB-AOI systems." [augusttech.com] [camtek.co.il]

C. Scott Kulicke

Kulicke & Soffa Industries Is Banking on Test Division

By Ron Iscoff, Editor

San Francisco-Kulicke & Soffa Industries, the pioneer of the global wire bonding industry, is looking to sockets and other test interface products to fill in the gaps caused by assembly equipment sales doldrums.

In an exclusive SEMICON West interview, Chairman C. Scott Kulicke admits his company initially failed when it tried to integrate sockets into other product lines after it acquired Cerprobe and Probe Technologies in 2000.

"We absolutely screwed up in the integration of the socket businesses," Kulicke told Chip Scale Review. "We made mistakes that caused us to lose market share, and there were things about the business that we didn't understand. It was very tough going."

But the K&S chairman says, "We think we've worked (the problems) through. We've rebuilt the teams and rebuilt customer confidence, but it's been a very ugly time."

Kulicke observes that sockets "are an interesting business. It's one of those categories that nobody ever pays attention to, even though every device gets socketed and tested."

The Quatrix cartridge base design

Historically, he he added, the level of spring-pin-based technology, formerly adequate for most applications, has probably run its course. "We think there's a lot of potential in the socket business. You just have to just have to break through the technical paradigm of spring pins."

Kulicke believes that K&S has "broken through" with its highly touted Quatrix technology, which involves a new way of making temporary interconnects. "We feel good about it. We've brought the first parts out and we're getting the electrical performance we expected; getting the life from Quatrix that we expected."

Quatrix, he adds, has given K&S the ability to redefine that category of product in a way that significantly reduces the cost of ownership.

Test interface products, especially sockets, he observes, are becoming an Asian business, as is the semiconductor business. "Most of our customers are in Asia; most of the factories are in Asia."

K&S has more engineers in Asia now than it has at home. "I'm one of the 'bad' guys that's moving everything to Asia," he says, explaining it as simply "a matter of economics, a matter of survival."

Ten years ago, K&S' headquarters operation in Willow Grove, Pa., numbered about 2000; now it's down to 300. The technology center for wire bonding, however, will remain in Willow Grove, near Philadelphia, and the technology core for sockets will stay in Gilbert, Ariz., home of Cerprobe-at least for the foreseeable future, he reported.

"There's a 'knowledge reservoir' that's embodied in people." That part of the business will not move overseas, he says, while manufacturing and back office employees will be part of the movement.

Kulicke said he's expecting "a lot of concentration" in the socket business; "and we hope to be the consolidators."

GSI Lumonics Changes Name

Billerica, Mass.-GSI Lumonics Inc. has changed its corporate name to GSI Group Inc. Its new NASDAQ trading symbol is GSIG. [gsigrp.com]

Bing Dang, a Georgia Tech doctoral candidate, holds a silicon wafer containing chips built with microchannels, and (left) an organic PWB with two microfluidic chips bonded to it. (Georgia Tech photos/Gary Meek)

Georgia Tech Develops New Wafer-Level Cooling Technique

Atlanta-Georgia Tech has developed a new technique for fabricating liquid cooling channels onto the backs of high-performance ICs. These channels, according to the school, will allow better temperature control and improved reliability.

The process is applied at the wafer level and includes polyester pipes that allow electronic and cooling interconnections to be made at the same time. Georgia Tech says the low-temperature process is compatible with conventional chip making and will not harm the ICs.

"This scheme offers a simple and compact solution to transfer cooling liquid directly into a gigascale integrated (GSI) chip and is fully compatible with conventional flip-chip packaging," says Bing Dang, a graduate research assistant at Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Eliminating Thermal Interface Issues

"By integrating the cooling microchannels directly into the chip, we can eliminate a lot of the thermal interface issues that are of great concern," he adds.

Close-up of microchannels on the backside of a silicon wafer. (Georgia Tech)

The School's approach allows a simple, monolithic fabrication of cooling channels directly onto ICs using a CMOS-compatible technique at temperatures less than 260°C.

Calculations demonstrate that the system, which can have either straight-line or serpentine microchannel configurations, should be able to cool 100W/cm².

Heat removal capacity depends on the flow rate of the coolant and its pressure, with smaller diameter microchannels being more efficient at heat transfer.

Dang says he expects the technology to be employed first in high-performance specialty processors that can justify the cooling system's expense. The researchers, thus far, have demonstrated continuous liquid flow on a chip for several hours without failure, but say additional testing is needed to confirm long-term reliability. [gatech.edu]

Kingston Technology Allocates $27 Million for Test Company

Fountain Valley, Calif.-Kingston Technology Japan LLC will invest nearly $27 million in a joint venture for a Japan-based wafer-testing service company with Advantest, Elpida Memory and Powertech Technology. The investment will provide Kingston with 26.8 percent equity ownership.

The new company, named Tera Probe Inc., will be the world's largest wafer-testing service. It will provide wafer testing services for Elpida as well as for other Japan-based semiconductor companies. Tera Probe is expected to begin operating in October with about 300 employees. [kingston.com]

China's Industry Growth Will Continue Unabated

San Jose-Although China's production capacity represents only a small part of the semiconductor industry, this will change dramatically as more investment pours into the region.

This investment will spur the continued growth of wafer fabs, IC assembly and test houses, materials suppliers and domestic equipment producers, according to The China Capital Equipment and Electronic Materials Outlook report.

"There is a sizeable overseas influence in China and, of all the announced projects, those with overseas support are the most likely to survive in the growing China market," the report maintains.

Major IC assembly and test companies in China (Semiconductor Equipment & Materials International)

More than 20 multinational package material suppliers now boast manufacturing capacity in China. Material from domestic suppliers, however, is used mostly by local packaging houses for assembly of discrete components.

The China packaging materials market was worth some $781 million in 2004, according to the SEMI report.

China today is home to more than 200 IC assembly and test companies, with foreign-backed companies and joint ventures taking the lead in technology and capacity, according to a new report from trade organization SEMI.

The Yangtse River Delta is the most densely populated area for IC assembly and test in China, and Chengdu is becoming a center for package assembly. (The location of major assembly and test companies is shown in the graphic.)

SEMI also reports that there are now more than 35 domestic, joint ventures and multinational chip makers with wafer fab plants on the Mainland. Installed 200mm and 300mm wafer capacity by the end of last year was equivalent to 106 million square inches of silicon per year.

20 New Fabs Forecast

The report forecasts that about 20 new fabs will be built in China between 2005 and 2008. Many of those projects will be supported with used equipment.

Domestic suppliers, according to the SEMI report, provide fab materials employed mostly by 100mm and 125mm fabs in China, while 150mm and 200mm fabs consume materials that are nearly all imported or supplied by the multinationals.

China, says the report, is the home of more than 40 domestic makers of equipment for the semiconductor and related industries. Only a few of these, however, "currently make significant contributions to the Chinese semiconductor equipment market."

Most used fab, assembly and test equipment will be transferred from overseas instead of being bought on the open market, SEMI reports. While this will limit sales for brokers and tool makers, it will create opportunities for refurbishing and servicing used equipment.

Ron Daniels

Ron Daniels' Death Caused by Coronary Thrombosis

Atlanta-Industry veteran Ron Daniels, who died at 56 on June 5, succumbed from coronary thrombosis, according to detailed autopsy reports.

The heart is surrounded by three major coronary arteries that supply the organ with blood and oxygen. If a blood clot develops in one of these arteries, the blood supply to that area of the heart muscle stops, known as a thrombosis.

Mr. Daniels' family extends many thanks to all those who wrote letters, called, sent emails and attended Ron's memorial service recently in Roswell, Ga.

Soon, Mr. Daniels' ashes will be spread of the waters of Hilton Head, S.C., one of

Ron's favorite places on earth.

-Terry Thompson

Greg Phipps

Indium Corp. Hires Phipps as Vice President of Marketing

Clinton, N.Y.-Indium Corp. of America has hired Greg Phipps as vice president of marketing. He joined Indium from the Boston Consulting Group.

Phipps earned an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Pfluke Promoted to Regional Mgr.

Indium has also promoted Karl Pfluke to regional sales manager for the southeastern United States. He was most recently a market development specialist. [indium.com]

Lisa Naugle

Naugle Joins Chip Scale Review's Midwest Sales Representative Staff

Chicago-Lisa K. Naugle has joined the sales staff of Chip Scale Review. She has been an account executive at Facinelli Media Sales since 1994, representing Micro magazine, which focuses on wafer processing and advanced process control issues.

Naugle and Bill Facinelli formerly shared accounts for the Midwest, for which she now assumes full responsibility. She can be reached at lno@ix.netcom.com or by phone at 847.699.6950.

Pike Appointed President at Tecknit Interconnection Products

Cranford, N.J.-Christopher Pike has been promoted to president of Tecknit Interconnection Products. He joined Tecknit in 2003 as North American operations manager for Tecknit EMI/Shielding, a sister company. [tecknit.com]

Register for the IWLPC by September 23 for a 10% Discount

San Jose-Register for the International Wafer-Level Packaging Conference (IWLPC) by September 23 and save 10 percent from the total conference price.

The conference, sponsored by Chip Scale Review and the SMTA, will take place at the DoubleTree Hotel, San Jose, from November 3-4, and includes an extensive technical program lead by the industry's most respected experts. [smta.org/iwlpc]

Semiconductor Rankings Change for First Half of 2005

Scottsdale, Ariz.-Freescale Semiconductor, which ranked eleventh in IC Insights full year 2004 rankings, has broken into the number nine position for the first half of 2005. [icinsights.com]

Six of the top 10 companies in the rankings registered sequential declines in 2Q05, with the Japanese companies "being especially hard hit," according to IC Insights.

As shown in the table, less than $100 million separated ninth-ranked Freescale from eleventh-ranked Philips.

Weakness in the 2Q05 DRAM market "was clearly evident from the 2Q05/1Q05 sales declines registered by Samsung and Infineon," IC Insights reported.

UMD Technology Adds DB Design to Company Roster

Vancouver, Wash.-UMD Technology, which acquired Wells-CTI in 2003, recently bought DB Design of Milpitas, Calif.

DB Design makes test interface products, including IC handler change kits, stiffeners, docking systems and manipulators. Derek Bowers, founder and president of DB Design, will continue in his current role. [umdtech.com]

EKRA, a maker of stencil printers, has been acquired by ASYS.

ASYS Acquires EKRA, German Maker of Screen Printers

Dornstadt, Germany-ASYS has acquired EKRA, a Boennigheim, Germany, maker of screen and stencil printers. EKRA employs about 100 workers at its Boennigheim headquarters.

The acquisition adds the fifth business unit to ASYS and brings the total headcount to 400. EKRA in Boennigheim and its U.S. and Asian-based subsidiaries will remain independent business entities. [asys-llc.com]

A technician checks the diffusion furnaces at one of the company's wafer fab facilities. (Intel Corp.)

Intel Corp. Plans $3 Billion, 300mm Fab for Site in Chandler, Arizona

Santa Clara, Calif.-Intel Corp. says it will invest $3 billion to build a new 300mm wafer fab at its site in Chandler, Ariz.

Designated "Fab 32," Intel says the fab will roll out microprocessors in the second half of 2007 using a 45nm process technology. Construction will begin immediately, the company announced.

When completed, Fab 32 will become Intel's sixth 300mm wafer fab. The facility will be about 92,903 square meters with 17, 094 square meters of clean room space. The project will create up to 1,000 new jobs at Intel's Arizona site over the next few years.

Jeroen Schmits

Currently, Intel operates four 300mm fabs, which are located in Ireland, New Mexico and Oregon. The company is also constructing an additional 300mm fab in Arizona (Fab 12), that is scheduled to begin operations this year. [intel.com]

Schmits Named President of Universal Instruments

Binghamton, N.Y.-Jeroen L. Schmits, president of Vitronics Soltec since 1999, has been named president of Universal Instruments. He replaces Ian deSouza, who left the company to pursue other interests.

No replacement for Schmits at Vitronics Soltec has been named. Both companies are part of Dover Corp. [uic.com]

Dr. Michael Todd

Henkel Appoints Dr. Todd Technical Director of RD&E

Irvine, Calif.-Henkel has named Dr. Michael Todd technical director of RD&E for material sets at the company's electronics group, based at the company's California Research and Applications Center.

Dr. Todd earned his doctorate at the University of California, Irvine, and has spent the past eight years with Henkel. He was most recently director of R&D for Henkel's liquid epoxy materials. [henkel.com]

Speedline Technologies Announces New Product Manager Positions

Franklin, Mass.-Speedline Technolo-gies has appointed Rich Burke, Hugh Reid and Chris Wild to product manager posts.

Rich Burke	Hugh Reid	Chris Wild

Burke was promoted to product manager for Electrovert Wave Reflow and Cleaning. He previously served as sales engineer, district sales manager and regional applications engineering manager. Burke earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of New Hampshire.

Reid was promoted to product manager for Camalot Dispensing. He earlier served at Speedline in sales engineering, applications engineering and applications management in the U.S. and the U.K.

Wild was promoted to product manager for MPM general purpose printers. A 12-year veteran with Speedline, he has also served as applications engineer, sales engineer and, most recently, as district sales manager. He graduated from Tufts University, Boston, with a degree in mathematics. [speedlinetech.com]

Reader Was Offended by Columnist's 'Test Trolls' Characterization

To: Paul Sakamoto, Contributing Editor-Test:

I read your article in Chip Scale Review regarding test trolls in the May-June issue (I take personal offense at that phraseology). It sounds like you have never stepped on a test floor or manipulated a tester other than one used for a pregnancy test.

The article read like a Neanderthal wrote it before the wheel was invented. I have been in test for 25 years and 20 of them have been spent in Silicon Valley working on state-of-the-art devices, and testing them on a variety of platforms.

I think your editor should weed you out and put someone in that can write decent articles about test and the changes that have taken place.

If any CEO followed your advice, as spelled out in that article, I would laugh.

By e-mail, name withheld by request

Mr. Sakamoto responds:

It seems as though I have struck a very sour note with you and would point out that the article was meant to poke fun at a system of procurement that still exists in Silicon Valley and elsewhere.

I travel to many companies all over the world every year; I meet with many engineers and executives and believe this to be the current state at many-but by no means-all companies.

I'm sorry that you somehow took personal offense to the article, but I do stand by my observations, which are based on some pretty good experience of my own.

I have known quite a few semiconductor company executives and CEOs over my 28 years in the industry. They would tend to agree with me, privately, if not publicly.

Paul Sakamoto, Inovys [paul.sakamoto@inovys.com]

We consider Paul one of the most engaging, thoughtful (and provocative) columnists that we've ever had, as do many of our readers. You won't be seeing his column as frequently as before, but only because we've decided to vary our mix a little more to meet our readers' changing needs. The editor welcomes letters from readers. Letters must be signed, but names will be withheld on request. -The Editor

A Voice from SEMICON West's Past

Editor,

As producer of the the first 10 SEMICON trade shows (contractually with my firm, Golden Gate Enterprises Inc.), starting in late May 1971 at the San Mateo Fair-grounds, I really enjoyed your recent article ("Assembly Lines," May-June).

I was a young buck then (now 70, living in the Sierras), and it brought back many memories-especially all the fights I had with SEMI over my "off-beat" ideas. I insisted on the cable cars, the New Orleans-style band, and I changed the names of all the adjacent halls (I wasn't about to have our attendees see "Quilt Hall," "The Ceramic Building" etc., which were actually the names over the doorways.)

Anyway, Ron, nice article.

Rich Banks

Chip Scale Review welcomes letters from readers. Please send your letter to the appropriate columnist or to the editor at chipscale@gmail.com. We reserve the right to edit and/or shorten letters to fit available space. Each letter must be signed but names and e-mails will be withheld on request.