Shaping the Future: Conferences and Collaboration as Drivers of Semiconductor Innovation

The VLSI Symposium is an international academic conference where experts discuss the latest developments in semiconductor devices and circuit technologies. Research institutes and companies from around the world give presentations that provide participants with an overview of the latest findings and insights into the future direction of technology development.

Semiconductor technology is an interdisciplinary field incorporating physics, mechanical and electrical engineering, materials science, engineering, and more. Due to its broad scope, no single company can conduct all the necessary R&D to discover the best solutions. This is why international academic conferences are important: they allow us to observe and learn what the industry as a whole is trying to do. Accordingly, TEL participates in these conferences to understand the technology trends sought by the industry and our customers.

The VLSI Symposium is an international academic conference that attracts experts from around the world, making it an ideal place to exchange useful information. The symposium has an average acceptance rate of 30-40% for submitted papers. This demonstrates the high caliber of technology presented at the symposium. Presentations can also lead to new customer encounters and enhance internal and external technical exchanges, which are both significant advantages for the company.

This type of academic conference is essential to the industry-wide effort to advance semiconductor technology. Now, consider the opposite: a world in which companies don't share information. Each company would have to start from scratch and take a different approach to solve every problem. This would certainly impede development and place a greater burden on suppliers. Without academic conferences, advancements in semiconductors over the last half century would not have been as far-reaching. These academic conferences allow industry members to discuss the general direction of technological development while encouraging fair competition. That’s one of the vital roles that academic conferences play.

As a leading company in semiconductor production equipment, we are expected to contribute significantly to industry growth. In recent years, semiconductor production technology has become orders of magnitude more complex, making equipment capable of manufacturing advanced semiconductors more important than ever. Accordingly, conference attendees from a variety of backgrounds are eager to learn about the new technologies that semiconductor equipment manufacturers are presenting, as well as the topics their engineers will discuss.

Our main responsibilities are conducting peer reviews and managing the conferences. As many as 350 papers were submitted to the Symposium this year, and we evaluated them with the help of in-house experts. Conference management involves a wide variety of tasks, including coordinating with invited speakers and planning panel discussions.

The VLSI Symposium does not have subcommittees to address different types of devices, so all submitted papers are examined by a single committee. The advantage of this arrangement is that it puts the members at the forefront of semiconductor device research being conducted around the world. Extensive knowledge is certainly required for reviewing all those papers, but it is also a privilege that is reserved for VLSI Symposium committee members.

As a member of the Alliance Project team at TEL, I am engaged in planning and managing collaborative research with international research institutions and universities. I oversee the entire process, from selecting themes for joint researches to reviewing research content. The planning requires a broad perspective on future semiconductor technology trends and TEL’s strategy. This is where the insights gained from managing academic conferences prove useful.

One of my main responsibilities is to draw up a technology roadmap for semiconductor devices over the next decade. When we say “roadmap” in our industry, we mean a vision of the future design, structure, and performance of semiconductor devices. Of course, no one knows how the technology will evolve in the next 10 years, which makes the task all the more challenging. It forces you to think creatively.

To do the job properly, it is crucial to maintain a steady inflow of information. Actively participating in relevant academic conferences allows you to access competitors’ presentations, understand major customers’ trends, and exchange ideas with peers both within and outside the company. Once you have integrated all the accumulated data, you will be ready to start formulating a roadmap.

Indeed, I felt those conferences were quite intimidating when I was younger, as I was bombarded with technical terms and sophisticated ideas. But there are a lot of resources online that offer easy explanations for most of them, so I recommend that you do some research. I’m sure you will get a good sense of the industry’s current trajectory, as well as the type of technologies that are garnering attention today.

I agree. These days, conventional scaling technology—which shrinks semiconductor devices to achieve higher performance—is no longer the sole driver of advances in the semiconductor industry. For example, advanced packaging technology, also known as heterogeneous integration, is gaining traction in the field of AI semiconductors. As exponential advances in AI are causing a surge in power consumption, researchers are proposing ideas for developing energy-efficient semiconductors and using optical devices to transfer large amounts of data between chips.

There are many websites that explain these new ideas in simple terms. First, visit these sites to learn about key technology concepts and academic conferences. Then, attend conferences to broaden your horizons. Ultimately, I hope you will want to submit papers, too. The ability to organize and communicate your technological insights is also highly valued, so I encourage you to brush up on that skill.

Looking at the semiconductor device roadmap from a decade ago, we can see that it accurately predicted the order of technological advances. However, the pace of innovation has been much faster than anticipated. For instance, ten years ago, the idea of forming metal interconnect on the backside of a wafer was no more than a pipe dream. Now, however, it is coming close to being commercialized.

Generative AI will certainly be adopted more widely for developing semiconductor equipment. A number of examples have already been presented at academic conferences where generative AI is used for the design work. Finding optimal solutions in the development of process technologies and hardware configurations involves an overwhelming number of parameters. This is why leveraging AI and simulation technologies is crucial for R&D.

It goes without saying that generative AI will transform the world. When image recognition technology first emerged, I knew it would be a force to be reckoned with. However, I didn’t expect it to sweep the world so quickly. Although technologies often evolve in unimaginable ways, I hope they will ultimately lead us to a better future.

The number of semiconductors around us will only increase. These powerful yet unseen building blocks will continue to positively influence our society and daily lives.

For example, old-fashioned houses may be renovated using advanced building infrastructure with embedded semiconductors, improving habitability while preserving the traditional appearance. This type of upgrade enhances living comfort without disrupting your familiar way of life. Since semiconductors are hidden within the infrastructure, residents can use the same old interfaces and peacefully enjoy greater convenience. I believe that both TEL and semiconductors can help enrich our lives.

Although the semiconductor industry has good prospects for further growth, it faces many challenges, including rising production costs, increased power consumption, and environmental issues. Developing excellent semiconductor devices is only half the battle. The other half is having the right equipment to mass-produce advanced chips—an area in which TEL can contribute greatly. I firmly believe that future semiconductor devices will mainly be mass-produced using TEL’s equipment, and I’ll do everything in my power to make that happen.

TEL’s semiconductor production equipment has consistently supported the fundamental advances in computing. In a sense, we have been instrumental in building a convenient and prosperous future society. I believe this has earned us the right to claim that identifying trends in the semiconductor industry and showing how to address them are part of our core mission.

Given our extensive know-how of supporting the semiconductor industry on multiple levels, TEL has an enormous potential for growth. I want to contribute to this growth, so I am taking a multifaceted learning approach. It’s challenging, but it will be well worth it in this exciting industry!