(Salon 7)

Organizer: Phillip Wong, IBM T. J. Watson Research Ctr, Yorktown Heights, NY

Moderator: Woodward Yang, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Developments in low power chips and mobile communications seem to put the ultimate communications device, the "Dick Tracy Watch," within grasp of the mass market. Is the basic technology now available to make this device a reality? Are we headed toward wearable computing and personal communications devices combining wristwatch, cell phone, digital camera, GPS and PDA? Questions about power consumption, battery life, physical form factor, communication range, critical features and applications must be addressed to make such devices successful in the mass market.

Panelists:

Steve Mann, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Wai Lee, Texas Instruments, Dallas, TX

Eric Vittoz, CSEM Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique SA, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Rein de Graaf, Philips Research, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Sven Mattison, Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, Lund, Sweden

Yuji Kitamura, Sanyo Semiconductors, Rochelle Park, NJ

(Salon 8)

Co-organizer/Moderator: Krste Asanovic, Mass. Inst. of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Co-organizer: William Bowhill, Compaq Computer Corp., Shrewsbury, MA

Following Moore's law, microprocessor performance increased by about two orders of magnitude from 1990 to 2000. How can another factor of 100 be obtained over the next ten years? How much improvement can be expected from process technology, circuit design, computer architecture, and compiler technology? What technical hurdles must be overcome to achieve this goal? How will future designs cope with trends in interconnect delay, power dissipation, design effort, memory speed, and compiler complexity?

Panelists:

William Dally, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Joel Emer, Compaq Computer Corp., Shrewsbury, MA

Frank Fox, Rambus Inc., Mountain View, CA

Wen-Mei Hwu, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL

Hiroshi Iwai, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Midori-ku, Yokohama, Japan

Fred Pollack, Intel Corp., Santa Clara, CA

Fred Weber, AMD, Sunnyvale, CA

(Salon 9)

Organizer: Todd Brooks, Broadcom Corp., Irvine, CA

Moderator: David Robertson, Analog Devices, Wilmington, MA

Engineering talent is in scarce supply in the industry today. Competition for people can be every bit as intense as the competition for technology leadership or market share. A variety of strategies for attracting and retaining this expertise is available. Each strategy has issues: How to train junior engineers? How to smoothly integrate employees following a merger or acquisition? How to make use of consultants and design services companies? Where to find experienced engineers? How to entice them to leave their present positions? How to hold on to talent? Collectively, the panelists bring decades of experience to the table on different approaches to solving this important problem.

Panelists:

Theo Claasen, Philips Semiconductors, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Nicky Lu, Etron Technology Inc., Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC

Mary Jane Raymond, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ

Nav Sooch, Silicon Laboratories, Inc., Austin, TX

T. R. Viswanathan, Texas Instruments, Dallas, TX

Bob Wiederhold, Cadence Design Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA

(Salon 10-15)

Organizer/ Moderator: Jagdish Pathak, Sub Micron Circuits, Inc., San Jose, CA

Semiconductor memories were stand-alone products for all these years. Memory designs were on the leading edge of the technology and were ideal vehicles for technology development. The memory designer has, thus far, enjoyed a challenging and rewarding career environment, but the picture is now changing. The push for system cn a chip (SOC), ASIC design methodologies of standard-cell libraries, memory compilers, and generators are making the memory designer obsolete. The discussion in this session will focus on the future role of the memory designer.

Panelists:

Jim Kupec, UMC Group, Sunnyvale, CA

Prakash Bhalerao, Amber Networks, Cupertino, CA

Michael G. Kliment, Virtual Silicon Technology, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA

Robert Proebsting, Integrated Device Technology, Santa Clara, CA

Richard Foss, MOSAID Technologies, Inc., Kanata, Ontario, Canada

Adam Kablanian, Virage Logic Corporation, Fremont, CA

(Salon 7)

Co-organizer: Hirotaka Tamura, Fujitsu Labs, Ltd., Nakahara,

Kawasaki, Japan

Co-organizer: Shigeo Kuninobu, Matsushita Electric, Nagaoka,

Kyoto, Japan

Moderator: Takayasu Sakurai, University of Tokyo, Minato, Tokyo, Japan

This panel gives the attendee an idea of what should be the primary product and/or service that drives the semiconductor technology during the next 10-year period. These products will drive the manufacturing technology, giving reasonable profit, so that the semiconductor industry can enjoy healthy growth. The discussion addresses the technology and business issues that affect the long-term prosperity of the industry.

Panelists:

Emmanuel Crabbe, IBM Semiconductor Research & Development Ctr, Hopewell Junction, NY

Herman Casier, Alcatel, Brussels, Belgium

Minoru Yamamoto, Fujitsu Ltd., Nakahara, Kawasaki, Japan

Chuck Dennison, Micron Technology, Boise, ID

Tetsuya Iizuka, THine Electronics Inc., Tokyo, Japan

Tadahiko Nakamura, Sony Corp., Tokyo, Japan

(Salon 8)

Co-organizer/ Co-moderator: Jan Sevenhans, Alcatel, Antwerp, Belgium

Co-organizer/ Co-moderator: Christer Svensson, Link öping University, Linköping, Sweden

For RF/Analog, is 50 Ohm an optimum or an obstacle? Digital interfaces are wide-band. RF signals for wireless are narrow-band with LC-tuning to cancel capacitive loads of package pins and parasitics, allowing for higher Z. The natural Z of air for commercial antennas is about 300 Ohm. The optimum noise Z in Si, especially in CMOS is Vnoise-limited, so 50 Ohm is low for an LNA. RF-filters also follow for 50 Ohm. Is 300 Ohm the low-cost RF-Z if we do some concurrent engineering for antenna, RF filters, RFICs and measurement equipment? Digital high-speed interfaces move to new standards, for low-power and low-supply voltage CMOS: PECL, LVDS etc. and single-ended or balanced pinout. So, what will be the future?

Panelists:

Helmut Preisach, Alcatel SEL AG, Stuttgart, Germany

Shekhar Borkar, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, OR

Michiel Steyaert, K.U., Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium

Yoshihiko Ashida, Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Nagasaka, Japan

Herman Boss, Rhode & Schwartz GmbH, Munich, Germany

Thaddeus Gabara, Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ

(Salon 9)

Co-organizer: Lars Thon, T-Span Systems, Corp., Palo Alto, CA

Co-organizer: Wanda Gass, Texas Instruments, Dallas, TX

Moderator: Victor Bahl , Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA

Residential broadband internet and entertainment service is now realized with technologies such as xDSL, cable modems and direct satellite transmission. The frontier is distribution of multimedia content, from the entry to computers and information appliances throughout the home. Most homes lack networking infrastructure, and a multitude of consortia, companies and standard committees are developing solutions. Should this networking technology be based on new cabling, existing cabling, or wireless technologies such as RF and InfraRed? What technology will prevail in home networking? What are the implications for the semiconductor industry?

Panelists:

Ran Yan, Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, Holmdel, NJ

Edward H. Frank, Epigram Inc., Sunnyvale, CA

Alberto Mantovani, Conexant Systems Inc., Newport Beach, CA

Brent Myers, Intersil, Palm Bay, FL

Sven Mattisson, Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, Lund, Sweden

Neil Weste, Radiata Communications Pty Ltd., Epping, Australia

Modest Oprysko, IBM Research Division, Yorktown Heights, NY

(Salon 10-15)

Co-organizer / Co-moderator: Trudy Stetzler, Texas Instruments, Stafford, TX

Co-organizer / Co-moderator: Mary Jo Nettles, AMCC, San Diego, CA

Nostradamus predicted many of the events that marked the last thousand years. As the next millennium begins, experts, pundits and prophets discuss some ideas about new technical concepts and breakthroughs that they expect to occur in the third millennium. The discussion includes man-machine integration, digital imaging, artificial intelligence and the cost of technology.

Panelists:

W. H. Korving, Philips Semiconductors B.V., Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Earl McCune, Tropian Inc., Cupertino, CA

Gene A. Frantz, Texas Instruments, Stafford, TX

Jim Ebentier, AMCC, San Diego, CA

Shumpei Kawasaki, Hitachi, Los Altos Hills, CA

Eric Shutz, Alcatel Microelectronics, Zaventem, Belgium