With 160 technical papers, three plenary presentations, eight evening panel sessions, half a dozen tutorials, two full-day workshops, and a full-day short course, the 2001 ISSCC provided a flood of information that quenched the thirst of even the most data-hungry chip designer. Held earlier this month at the San Francisco Marriott hotel, the conference opened with a plenary session that examined three hot topics—"i-Mode: 21st Century Mobile Internet," by Kei-Ichi Enoki of NTT-DoCoMo, Tokyo, Japan; "Broadband Access: The Last Mile," by L. Cloetens from Alcatel Microelectronics, Zaventem, Belgium; and "Microprocessors for the New Millennium," by Patrick Gelsinger of Intel Corp., Hillsboro, Ore. These presentations discussed key trends and design challenges particular to each area.
The broad array of papers that followed the plenaries can loosely be grouped into four main topic areas: digital technology; analog and mixed-signal technology; communication and network systems; and multimedia and convergence technologies. For this issue, we prepared a package of four staff reports that contain what we feel are most of the highlights and key technology developments in these areas. Of course, many other highly innovative papers couldn't be covered here due to space limitations. Some examples include several advanced research topics on 3D fabrication technologies, measurement techniques, image sensing, and microelectronic machined sensors.
Printed conference records or CD/DVD archives of the full presentations and foil sets can be ordered from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Visit www.isscc.org or www.ieee.org for information. If you want to be placed on the mailing list for the 2002 event, send a note with your to mailing address to isscc@courtesyassoc.com.
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