edfas.org ELECTRONIC DEVICE FAILURE ANALYSIS | VOLUME 27 NO. 1 28 ISTFA 2024 HIGHLIGHTS Yan Li, ISTFA 2024 Conference Chair Samsung Semiconductor Inc. yan.a.li@samsung.com The 50th International Symposium for Testing and Failure Analysis (ISTFA) celebrated a major anniversary in San Diego from October 28 to November 1, with the theme of “Riding the Wave of Artificial Intelligence.” Experts, researchers, and leaders from both industry and academia came together not only to honor five decades of innovation and progress in the testing and failure analysis of microelectronic devices, but also to embrace new waves of change and explore the vast opportunities artificial intelligence (AI) brings to the field. The exponentially increasing AI training parameters are driving the development of bigger and highly complex microlelectronics, with ever-smaller transistors and interconnects. This evolution demands more stringent quality and reliability standards, and poses tremendous challenges in fault isolation (FI) and failure analysis (FA). Understanding and resolving new failures that appear during AI training, developing new tools and techniques to address FI and FA challenges, as well as innovatively integrating AI in FI-FA flow become crucial for new technology development and high-volume mass production in the semiconductor industry. A total of 763 attendees actively engaged in a diverse range of events, including the technical program, tutorials, keynote speeches, panel discussions, user group discussions, poster presentations, and the exhibition. In addition to technique-oriented events, attendees had the opportunity to relax and participate in social events, networking sessions, and coffee breaks, promoting important connections and lasting relationships. ISTFA 2024 launched on Sunday, October 27 with short courses, followed by 26 tutorial presentations on Monday focusing on fault isolation, microscopy, electrical yield, technical specifics, as well as package and physical analysis challenges. Invaluable support from the ISTFA 2024 organizing committee members in setting up the technical events was highly appreciated. TECHNICAL PROGRAM Led by the Technical Program Chair, Kristofor Dickson from NXP, a team of 36 session chairs and 106 technical reviewers prepared the ISTFA 2024 Symposium with 68 outstanding oral presentations, 12 insightful invited talks, and 28 exceptional posters. In addition to publishing in the indexed ISTFA conference proceedings, authors are encouraged to submit their manuscripts to a special issue of ASM’s Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention, which will be handled by university chairs in the organizing committee. ISTFA Best and Outstanding Papers were nominated by session review committees and chosen based upon the votes from attendees. Congratulations to the award winners! Dr. James Chambers, vice president of silicon engineering and sourcing at Nvidia, presented a keynote speech on generative AI and its implications to quality, reliability, and failure analysis. As the new industrial revolution, AI is shaping the future of industry and innovation. The compute-intensive AI workloads can uncover even the most subtle defects in microelectronics. Creative FA approaches, such as cross-sectional electro optical terahertz pulse reflectometry, 3D nanoprobing and atomic force microscopy analysis, as well as the application of fault simulation in package FA were demonstrated. A few promising FA Attendees celebrated 50 years of ISTFA.
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