pete | Pete's Posts Blog

One of the most common questions I’m asked is “How can I contribute to Solid State Technology?” We try to make that an easy process – so the short answer is shoot me an e-mail ([email protected]) or give me a call (978-470-1806) – but I prepared this short guide as an overview of our various publications and the different ways to contribute.

First, a little about us: Solid State Technology is a trusted source of technology, product and market information on semiconductor manufacturing and packaging since 1958. Our coverage also includes growth and emerging electronics technologies and markets, including MEMS, LEDs, displays, power electronics and bio-medical devices.

How many people do we reach? Solid State Technology’s magazine, email newsletters and website are seen by more than 273,000 engineering and management professionals in 181 countries each month—more than any other electronics manufacturing-focused media provider delivers. We provide news and product information on a daily basis in combination with in-depth technical articles, analysis and case studies.

Here’s our line-up of publications:

Magazine: Leading-edge and strategic articles and commentary delivered eight times a year to 40,000 of the most qualified decision makers for semiconductor, packaging, MEMS, LED and display manufacturing worldwide, plus attendees of key conferences and trade shows;

Email Newsletters: Dedicated e-newsletters focus on each of these key market segments, with circulations ranging from 10,000 to 45,000 subscribers, and a daily roundup provides the latest news and product announcements across all of these industries;

Website: Dedicated channels on the www.solid-state.com site focus on our five key microelectronics manufacturing coverage areas—semiconductors, packaging, MEMS, LEDs and displays—providing news, technical articles, product updates, blogs, webcasts, podcasts, white papers, video, an extensive buyer’s guide and much more;

Events: One of the key events of the year, The ConFab is an annual invitation-only conference that gathers the leaders who will determine the future of the industry. Check out www.theconfab.com for more info.

There are a number of ways in which you can work with Solid State Technology.

Feature Articles

Solid State Technology publishes feature-length articles in our magazine and on our website, and we do accept contributed articles. We welcome suggestions for articles of all types, including application stories and case studies; technical articles and reviews; and conference/trade-show reports.

Our typical article length is 1500-2000 words. We also publish opinion pieces in our Industry Forum column which are 600 words in length.

Please send us a short summary of the proposed content (100-150 words), so that we can discuss publishing options.

Please review our Editorial Policy and our guidelines for submitting material (see below).

News Stories and New Products

News items are published on a daily basis on our website (www.solid-state.com). News items are also included in our various newsletters and in the magazine. Send your press releases regarding news or new products to Shannon Davis, digital media editor ([email protected]).

Blogs

For those interested in ongoing, regular contributed, a blog might be the way to go. Please send me the proposed title of the blog and what you intend to cover, and we can get the conversation started ([email protected]).

White Papers

White Papers are technical articles describing your company’s products, their applications, and capabilities. These articles are published on our website at and promoted via our newsletters. Companies supply a PDF version of their article, which is posted on the Solid State Technology website. Readers sign in to download the PDF. Reader details are gathered and supplied to companies on a monthly basis, providing a useful lead generation tool. The paper is promoted to readers via our website and via our email newsletters.

Buyer’s Guide and Directory

You can list your company’s details in our online Buyer’s Guide, which provides year-round 24/7 exposure on our website. Basic listings are FREE, and we also offer various paid-for options to enhance your company’s profile Buyer’s Guide: http://buyersguide.electroiq.com/search/index.html

Solid State Technology’s Editorial Policy

We are happy to discuss all potential articles related to the manufacturing and packaging of semiconductors and other types of electronics, particularly MEMS, LEDs, displays and power electronics.

We publish technical articles, case studies, application notes, product information, business and financial news, and a wide variety of other information relevant to the industries we cover.

We are looking for original material that has not been published elsewhere (e.g. other trade publications or on the author’s website), although material based on peer-reviewed journals or conference seminars is often acceptable.

Please do not submit articles where the primary purpose is to promote your company and its products. Readers do not respond well to such marketing pieces. We have many (paid-for) ways to help you put across your marketing message.

Typical articles could address a specific challenge or need within the industry, or look at the merits of using new process technology in a particular application, or discuss new standards, policies or collaborative projects.

Submitting proposals: The best first step is to send me a short 100-150 word summary of the proposed article. Although we publish a limited Editorial Calendar in our Media Planner, we are happy to discuss all subject matter, whether or not it appears on the Calendar.

Timelines: We work around 3 months ahead of publication. Submission deadlines are 3 weeks prior to the advertising sales deadlines published in our Media Planner (http://www.electroiq.com/advertise.html).

All articles will be edited according to our internal procedures. Any major queries or problems will be returned to the author.

Please send proposal for features, columns and blogs to Pete Singer, Editor-in-Chief ([email protected]).

Thanks for the interest and I look forward to working with you.

Pete Singer

At Semicon West last week (and at The ConFab a few weeks ago) some key trends were clearly evident in the semiconductor industry.

It’s apparent that the world’s appetite for electronics has never been greater. That has increasingly taken the form of mobile electronics, including smartphones, tablets and tablets and the new “phablets.” People want to watch movies and live sports on their phones. They want their mobile devices to be “situationally aware” and even capable of monitoring their health through sensors. That drives higher bandwidth (6G is on the drawing board), faster data rates and a demand for reduced power consumption to conserve battery life. At the same time, “big data” and the internet of things (IoT) are here, which drives the demand for server networks and high performance semiconductors, as well as integrated sensors and inventive gadgets such as flexible displays and human biosensor networks.

It’s also pushing the semiconductor manufacturing industry in new directions. Chip makers typically face tradeoffs between power, performance, area and cost/complexity (PPAC). For mobile devices, the push is to low power, high performance, small area and low cost.

For me, one of the main themes of Semicon West was the demand for mobile devices and how they might impact what has become standard thinking in the semiconductor industry in terms of scaling, performance, power and cost.

At Semicon West 2013, Karen Savala, president of SEMI Americas, kicked things off, noting that it was the 43^rd year of Semicon West (32^nd consecutive one for me personally). “While much has changed over the years, the one that has been constant is the power of our industry to continually drive innovation, to overcome technical challenges and economic challenges, and develop new processes, new materials and technologies that continue to move Moore’s Law forward,” Savala said. “2013 is no different. The industry finds itself at a critical juncture where multiple technology developments, including 450mm, FinFETs, 3D ICs, advanced materials and processes, and EUV just to name a few, promise to move Moore’s Law ahead. But as we have done before, we will address these challenges, bring new technologies to market, and continue to amaze the world with the power of our collective innovation.”

Karen then introducde the keynote, Ajit Monacha, CEO of Global Foundries, who expanded on his Foundry 2.0 concept, and talked about how the requirements of mobile devices were, in fact, changing the entire semiconductor industry. He noted that the mobile business is forecast to be double the size of the PC market in 2016. The mobile business drives many new requirements, said Manocha, including power, performance and features, higher data rates, high resolution multicore processors and thinner form factors.

This incredible growth is driving new dynamics, said Manocha, and pushing the industry to the new technology node each year, which is presenting the industry with what Manocha deems the Big Five Challenges. Manocha believes these challenges are: cost, device architectures, lithography and EUV, packaging and the 450mm wafer transition. I don’t recall when cost wasn’t an issue, but an audience poll revealed that most people believe economic challenges will be the main factor limiting industry growth, not technical challenges, so cost moves to the top of the list.

After his talk, Ajit was presented with the “SEMI Outstanding EHS Achievement Award — Inspired by Akira Inoue” by Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI. During Semicon West, SEMI also honored 14 industry leaders for their outstanding accomplishments in developing standards for the microelectronics and related industries

Part of “the buzz” at the show was the rosy prediction issued by SEMI about growth in capital equipment for next year. SEMI forecasts semiconductor equipment sales will reach $43.98 billion in 2014, a 21 percent increase over estimated 2013 equipment spending, according to the mid-year edition of the SEMI Capital Equipment Forecast, released during the show.

Lots more to cover, so stay tuned. In the meantime, check out our other coverage of Semicon West at our dedicated landing page.

Author Archives: pete

How to Contribute to SST

Key Trends at Semicon West 2013