Advanced Packaging - From The Editor

We learn a lot by observing others and listening to their ideas. It's easy to become myopic when we work alone. When we're required to look beyond the boundaries of our scope of knowledge to consider what our peers have to say, that's when real discoveries happen. This is one observation I've made from participating in technical symposiums and conferences. There's only so much you can learn from sitting in your cubicle or office, surfing the internet, and researching articles. I always come away inspired; all synapses firing; ready to invistigate more about what I've learned. So between last week's 3D/SiP Symposium in Durham, N.C.; this week's trip to Bath, UK, where I'll attend Born Global!, an event promoting international partnership strategies for semiconductor start-ups, hosted by Silicon SouthWest; and SMT/Hybrid Packaging, in Nuremberg, Germany, June 2-4, the next few issues of AP Semi-monthly should be loaded with editorial insight.

As an organization generally focused on final electronics assembly, it is impressive that SMTA recognizes the need for collaboration and synergy across the industry supply chain, and so went beyond their scope to focus on developing packaging technologies themselves, rather than just as they relate to board assembly. The bottom line is, no matter what part of the industry your focus is, you can't develop the ultimate solution without considering all segments of the industry. This point was made clear by keynote speaker, Dongkai Shangguan, VP, and senior fellow from Flextronics, and subsequent presenters.

I felt especially fortunate to attend this gathering, as its small size lent itself to a rare exchange of information during the question-and-answer sessions and networking times. One of the most memorable presentations delivered the first day was by Monthar Abusultan, an undergraduate student at Montana State University. It wasn't so much the topic of his presentation that impressed me, but the sheer tenacity he displayed by giving his talk to a roomful of Ph.D.s and industry veterans. This was obviously a right of passage every one in the room had been through at some point in their career. You could tell by the questions they asked at the end of the presentation that they were taking part in this student's education. He learned as much from those questions, and will take them back to the lab to dig deeper into his research.

Even as Advanced Packaging's editorial focus is on technologies and processes serving the back-end, it's to our readers' benefit for us to understand processes across the semiconductor and electronics industries. That's one of the reasons I'll be representing not only Advanced Packaging, but our sister publications , Solid State Technology and SMT magazines, at Born Global!, The event takes place in Bath, UK, Friday May 9, 2008. The companies being launched at this event span all sectors of the industry. I'm looking forward to learning more about them and what they're bringing to table.

SMT/Hybrid Packaging, proclaimed to be Germany's foremost event focusing on electronic technologies, is reportedly reaching record attendance this year. The theme focuses on automotive electronics this year. I'm interested to learn more about what the Fraunhofer IZM is doing in developments for SiP, and seeing what the exhibitors from around the world will be showcasing at that particular venue.

It seems that with each new discovery, another layer of understanding technology is revealed. The questions become more targeted, and the challenge is in connecting all the dots. That is the beauty of collaboration. It appears that those who engage in any collaborative efforts are the most savvy, and will be big players in future technology developments.

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