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edfas.org ELECTRONIC DEVICE FAILURE ANALYSIS | VOLUME 22 NO. 3 36 T he 46th International Symposium for Testing and Failure Analysis (ISTFA) returns to Pasadena in 2020 from November 15 to 19. The theme this year will be “The Rise of MEMS and 3D Failure Analysis.” Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sense physical phenomena and trigger action, and they have enabled many useful, essential, and fun applications—the most common of which are found in smartphones, cars, print- ers, and wearables. Advances in packaging technologies, includingwafer bonding, 3D (TSV/heterogeneous) integra- tion, anddie stacking have been essential inhelpingMEMS sensors proliferate. To help clarify where MEMS is heading in the future, our keynote speaker will be Dr. Timothy Brosnihan, the executive director of the SEMI MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (MSIG). He has been a leader in MEMS for over 25 years at Cirrus Logic, Qualcomm, Pixtronix, and Analog Devices. His talk will focus on the technology of sensors and how new application spaces will continue to drive the increasing use of MEMS sensors. Read more about Brosnihan's keynote topic on page 2 in this issue. The panel discussion will dovetail with the MEMS keynote by focusing on “The Failure Analysis Challenges for 3D Packaging & MEMS Devices.” Discussion points will include the similarities and differences of FA in terms of tools of choice, fault isolation requirements, and target preparation workflows as guided by different application environments andmarkets. Distinguishedmembers of the field are invited to be on the panel to contribute diverse viewpoints and solutions fromtheir different work experi- ences and backgrounds, driving a fruitful conversation. The heart of ISTFA is the technical program, and this year promises to be another great one with 20 technical oral presentation and poster sessions, highlighting new and innovative work in failure analysis. This year, there will also be a special student poster session to encourage students to get into FA. The ever-popular tutorial program, with about 25 tutorials, welcomes a few new topics this year: Si photonics, machine learning for FA, newdevelop- ments in TEM/ion imaging, and wire bond corrosion. The main group of tutorials will be on Sunday, November 15 in three tracks. A newoffering this year, done in cooperation with ASM, will be 20-minute sample recordings of five of the tutorialswhichwill be posted on the ASMwebsite. The Education short courses, which offer instruction in much greater detail on selected topics, will run on Saturday, November 14, as a pre-kickoff to the conference. Sharing with and learning from colleagues through discussions is one of the great benefits of ISTFA. The user group sessions are a particularly effective forum for this, and there will be four sessions this year covering FIB, Sample Preparation, Nanoprobing/Electro-Optical Prob- ing, and 3D Systemon Package FA. Also, following its suc- cessful introduction last year,Women inElectronics Failure David Grosjean, ISTFA 2020 General Chair Butterfly Network dgrosjean@butterflynetinc.com PREVIEW The Pasadena Convention Center.