So in our upcoming January/February issue of Advanced Packaging, in addition to hearing what industry experts have to say about 2008 in our annual Forecast issue, you’ll also read about edgy technologies we think deserved some ink. For example, I first learned about IMEC’s work with stretchable electronics during SEMICON Europa. Researchers there have taken flexible electronics beyond the limits to create stretchable electronics, destined for applications in medical devices. Jan Provoost describes the process in Notable Developments. We’ve also been following the progress of Nextreme Thermal Solution’s thermal copper bump technology since they introduced it in October of 2007. This technical feature, written by Paul Magill, explains the entire process of integrating thermal material into the solder bumps for spot cooling at the chip level. Interestingly enough, the story was picked up by the Wall Street Journal in its technology section on January 10th, 2008. When I saw it, I had one of those yeah-I-already-knew-that moments that makes an editor’s day.

The schematic-based MEMS design environment ARCHITECT features a 3D visualization tool called Scene3D, which allows users to create 3D views of an ARCHITECT schematic and visualize simulation results with fully contoured 3D animations. Whether designing next generation gyroscopes, accelerometers, oscillators, RF switches, RF filters, optical mirrors or microphones, ARCHITECT with Scene3D not only reportedly helps the user ease the design process, but also document and communicate from initial steps to full production, across all design and management levels. ARCHITECT Scene3D provides output filters to generate 2D masks or 3D solid models in standard formats, making it fit seamlessly into most established design flows. Coventor, Cary, NC, www.coventor.com.