In a time when R&D is at the forefront of the industry, events like ECTC 2009, held May 27-29 in San Diego, become critical for showcasing research achievements, as well as providing venues for learning about the latest developments across the spectrum of device manufacturing. With 16 professional courses, 39 sessions of 6 papers each, two poster sessions, and the opportunity to mix it up with prestigious members of academia and research institutes, calling the event informative would be an understatement. As my current focus is in the area of 3D IC integration and 3D packaging, my radar was mostly tuned in there, and I spent most of my time interviewing experts in that market sector. However, I did pick up some interesting news from those involved in other areas of advanced packaging technologies.

In the wafer-level packaging (WLP) realm, I got a status update from Mike Thompson, Mikael Fredenberg, and Patrik M