2008 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium

For over 40 years, IRPS has been the premier conference for engineers and scientists to present new and original work in the area of microelectronic device reliability. Originally started in the early 1960’s by the military and aerospace community, IRPS is now co-sponsored by the IEEE Reliability Society and the IEEE Electron Devices Society. This co-sponsored event has drawn participants from the United States, Europe, Asia and all other parts of the world. IRPS 2008 promotes the reliability and performance of integrated circuits and microelectronic assemblies through an improved understanding of failure mechanisms in the user’s environment, while demonstrating the latest state-of-the-art developments in electronic reliability.

The focus of the symposium is the 3-day plenary/parallel sessions (at the Phoenix Convention Center) featuring original work that identifies new microelectronic failure or degradation mechanisms, improves understanding of known failure mechanisms, demonstrates new or innovative analytical techniques, or demonstrates ways to build-in reliability. Specific areas to be addressed during the 2008 IRPS are reliability concerns associated with silicon (integrated circuits, discrete devices, MEMS), non-silicon (GaAs, LEDs and diode lasers, optical fiber and flat panel displays), and emerging technologies including organic electronics and nanotechnology:

Product Reliability and Burn-In Non-Volatile Memory Qualification Strategies Circuits and Systems Soft Error Effects Assembly and Packaging

Failure Analysis Transistors High Power Devices Devices and Processing Interconnects Device Dielectrics

ESD and Latch-Up Process Induced Damage MEMS Nanoelectronics Device Reliability Organic Electronics

Other opportunities at the symposium include:

• A 2-day Tutorial Program featuring a set of bound notes from all tutorials. Attendees have the opportunity to learn a new area in some technical depth from an industry expert or brush up on the fundamentals with introductory tutorials. There are typically about 20 tutorials that are offered on topics ranging from back-end reliability to gate dielectric and transistor reliability to circuit/product reliability to assembly/ packaging reliability.
• Reliability Year-In-Review Seminar. This seminar provides a summary of important work published from the previous year in key reliability areas. Industry experts serve as the “tour guide” and save you time by collecting and summarizing this information to bring you up to date in a particular area as efficiently as possible.
• Evening Session Workshops enhance the synergy of the symposium by affording the attendees an opportunity to meet in informal groups to discuss key reliability physics topics with the guidance of experienced moderators. Some of the workshop topics are directly coupled to the tutorial program to allow more discussion on a particular topic.
• Equipment Demonstrations held in parallel with tutorials and technical sessions are a unique aspect of this symposium. Manufacturers of state-of-the-art analytical and test and stress equipment are on hand to demonstrate their products and systems to individuals and small groups. Attendees are encouraged to bring samples or questions for onsite analysis and discussion.
• An Evening Poster Session has become an important part of the IRPS for authors and attendees to discuss recent research and results in a very interactive environment.

  There are lots of opportunities to be involved in increasing your understanding of this technically important field. We look forward to seeing you in Phoenix!