Current Issue The International Reference for Chip-Scale Electronics, Flip-Chip Technology, Optoelectronic Interconnection and Wafer-Level Packaging October 2002 Email the editor

Gene Selven Publisher

As Charles Dickens wrote in A Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times," but that was in 1775. Compare that to the mood at the recent SEMICON West of July 2002.

Many exhibitors were surprised (and pleased) with the turnout, especially at the wafer processing segment in San Francisco. Exhibitors remarked positively about the quality and the quantity of the visitors. Attendees and exhibitors alike spoke glowingly about the growth prospects for 300mm wafer technology.

Now that SEMICON is a fading memory, much of the show's enthusiasm has waned, and the economic recovery seems stalled at square one again.

At Chip Scale Review, we like to say that "the technology has caught up with our magazine." Judging by the assembly and manufacturing technologies that are being employed in chip-scale, flip-chip and wafer-level packaging, there will be a bright, inexhaustible future.

Just consider the host of old and new companies now appearing at the various conferences around the country. A majority are showing applications focused on these advanced packaging processes.

The $64 million question that still bedevils me-and almost everyone in the industry-is, "When will the industry resume its former robust growth?"

Time to Get the Show on the Road Again!

Some suppliers, after severe cutbacks and downsizing, seem ready to embark anew on an aggressive marketing program. Their sentiments can be expressed as, "We've been dark too long; it's time to get this show back on the road!"

Others are content to wait for the recovery by sitting on the sidelines. While we can't fault the latter group for being ultra-conservative, history has shown, again and again, "out of sight, out of mind."

How would Mr. Dickens characterize the current recession? Perhaps he would say, "It was the worst of times, but the best is yet to come!" All that we have to remember is that the semiconductor industry has proven its resilience. It has proven emphatically, time and time again, that it will bounce back, stronger than ever.

Meanwhile, keep the faith. And let's turn the lights up again, together, in a return to the best of times!

[gselven@ChipScaleReview.com]