David Savastano, Editor01.10.18
Opportunities for flexible hybrid electronics are emerging rapidly, and 2018FLEX will be showcasing the latest technologies in the fast-growing flexible hybrid electronics field. Organized by FlexTech, a SEMI Strategic Association Partner, 2018FLEX will run from Feb. 12-15 in Monterey, CA.
Heidi Hoffman, senior director, FHE marketing at SEMI, said that based on technical paper submissions and pre-registration figures, 2018FLEX will be its strongest event in its 17-year history.
“SEMI-FlexTech is anticipating a full house for the 17th annual FLEX,” Hoffman said. “We are back into our traditional February timing and saw an impressive number of paper submissions to the conference. We have a record number of exhibitors and attendee numbers are tracking or exceeding prior years.”
Hoffman noted that the FLEX event has tracked directly with the progress of the flexible electronics field of technology.
“The event began 17 years ago as a small conference exploring the promise and challenges inherent in flexible displays, and quickly expanded to include printing materials, processes, and then the integration of ICs onto flexible substrates,” Hoffman added. “Over the years, the event grew to its current size of more than 600 attendees, 100+ market and technical talks, 60 exhibitors, short courses and many opportunities to connect and meet with others working in a variety of interrelated fields.
“When industry and academia gather at SEMI-FlexTech’s annual FLEX conference in Monterey in February 2018, they will see highlights of recent innovations in flexible and hybrid technology,” she noted. “Speakers will cover numerous products that leverage advancements in design and manufacturing, including bio-monitoring devices, minimally invasive neural interfaces for prosthetics and disease control, and potential applications for flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) in Lithium-ion batteries. Of course, alongside the successes, attention is given equally to exploring the challenges ahead.
2018FLEX’s exhibit space also offers attendees opportunities to learn about the latest developments.
“Beyond the conference portion of FLEX, we also have a sizable exhibition segment so attendees can get a closer look at advancements in materials and equipment – as well preview a slew of FHE-based products. FLEX is also an important forum for creating partnerships between small and large companies to make the ecosystem work.
Hoffman said that there should be plenty of highlights at 2018FLEX.
“Our promise to the attendees at 2018FLEX is that we will cover ‘Materials to Markets’ for flexible hybrid electronics – which means the topics are broad with incredible technical depth,” Hoffman reported. “Speakers will cover substrates, inks and pastes, printers and die-attach equipment, and their processes. The agenda includes coverage of diverse applications, such as asset monitoring, human performance tracking, smart packaging, antennas and communications, and flexible displays – all with embedded flexible electronics. At the component level, many of these technologies share common components and challenges.
The list of speakers includes presenters from US Army RDECOM-ARDEC, Boeing, HP, Flex, Panasonic, Robert Bosch GmbH and more.
“In terms of speakers, our keynotes will provide a great overview of all of the key FHE Markets: Panasonic on power, Draper Labs on drones, Thin Film Electronics on smart packaging, NASA on 3D printing, Cortera Neurotechnologies on flexible biosensors, Luminit on human-machine interfaces, and IHS Markit on flexible displays and other FHE markets,” Hoffman added. “The ongoing challenges in working with thin silicon is always a popular session, and this year, we will hear from Jabil, PARC, GE and Universal Instruments on this topic. The topic of 3D printing of both full devices and as an additive process continues to draw a lot of attention. Speakers from TechSearch, UTRC, Meyer Berger, Optomec and nScrypt will take a deep dive into what’s hot in 3D printing.”
Hoffman observed that flexible display technology will be a highlight as well, with LG Displays giving the opening talk, followed by UDC, Clearink Displays, Atom Optoelectronics and Display Supply Chain Consultants.
“FLEX attendees will also have the rare opportunity to learn more about government investment in FHE as they hear from government and industry leaders from US Army R&D Center Picatinny, Boeing and NextFlex,” Hoffman said. “Panelists from SI2 Technologies, DOD, The Army Armament Research Development and Engineering, and the Air Force Research Lab’s Airman Systems Directorate will clarify how small businesses can partner with DOD on FHE-based technologies. “
In addition, the 2018FLEX App has a feature where all of the talks are also divided into topical tracks of Flex Displays, Communications, Flexible Products, IC Integration, Manufacturing on Flex, MedTech, Printed, Sensors and MEMS.
2018FLEX Highlights
Four Short Courses and a Panel Discussion are on tap when 2018FLEX opens on Monday, Feb. 12. These include:
• Basics, Flexible Hybrid Electronics & Lab to Fab – Mark Poliks, Binghamton University; James J. Watkins, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; and Mike Mastropietro of NextFlex.
• Challenges and Solutions for Integration of Sensors with Flexible, Hybrid, Printed Systems – Chip Spangler of Aspen Microsystems and Mary Ann Maher of SoftMEMS
• Flexible Device Integration & Packaging – Pradeep Lall of Auburn University.
• Next Generation Flexible Displays – Paul Cain of FlexEnable, Mike Hack of Universal Displays, Erica Montbach of Kent Displays and D. Scott Bull of E Ink.
• Applications Panel Discussion, which is open to all, offers panelists Nancy Stoffel of GE Global Research, Jeff Spindler of OLEDWorks LLC, Al Compaan of Lucintech, and Tatsuo Ogawa of Panasonic.
Tuesday, Feb. 13 opens with two Plenary sessions, both focused on Applications & Markets. Plenary 1, Applications & Markets I, will start with 2018FLEX Introduction & Welcome from Ajit Manocha, president & CEO of SEMI, followed by a talk on Market Data.
Rikky Muller, co-founder and CTO, Cortera Neurotechnologies, will discuss “Minimally Invasive Wireless Neural Interfaces.” Tatsuo Ogawa, director, manufacturing technology & engineering, Panasonic, will follow with “Market and Technology Overview of Li-ion Battery.” The FLEXI Awards Ceremony will follow.
Plenary 2: Applications & Markets II will start with “In-Space Manufacturing: A Multimaterial Fab Lab for the International Space Station,” presented by Meyya Meyyappan, chief scientist for exploration technology with NASA Ames Research Center. Seth Coe Sullivan, VP & CTO of Luminit, will discuss “Automotive Head-Up Displays in the Era of Driverless Cars.”
“Printing Thermally Stable Conductors Using Low Temperature Processing for Power Electronics, RF, & UAV Applications” will be given by Greg Fritz, materials scientist at Draper, and Thin Film Electronics COO Peter Fischer will close Plenary 2 with his talk on “Commercializing Flexible Electronics.”
Session 3 features a panel discussion on Start-Up Business Strategies, covering “Identifying Opportunities for Small Businesses to Partner with the DoD in FHE Innovations.” The panel,which will be moderated by Joseph Kunze of S12 Technologies, will feature panelists Tracy Frost, director, DoD Manufacturing Institutes, Office of the Secretary of Defense Manufacturing & Industrial Base Policy; James Zunino, project officer, Army Armament Research, Development, & Engineering Center; Christian Whitchurch, chief scientist, Defense Threat Reduction Agency J9-CBA; James Christensen, Airman Sensing & Assessment portfolio manager, Air Force Research Laboratory Airman Systems Directorate; and Kevin Kluska, program lead for tailored solutions, US Government.
Session 4, Displays, will feature talks by Mike Hack of Universal Display; Frank Christiaens of CLEARInk Displays; Huaping Li Atom of Optoelectronics; and Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC).
The Feb. 14 2018FLEX schedule features 34 talks during eight concurrent sessions, and begins with the Women in Tech Breakfast. There are then a pair of concurrent sessions running throughout the day.
Session 5: Health Monitors, will be covered by Azar Alizadeh of GE Global Research, David Schwartz of PARC, a Xerox Company, Linh Le of Bonbouton, and Canek Fuentes-Hernandez of Georgia Institute of Technology.
Session 6: RF & Security, will feature James Zunino of US Army RDECOM-ARDEC; John Rogers of Boeing Research & Technology; Carolyn Ellinger of Eastman Kodak; and Jimmy Hester of Georgia Institute of Technology.
Session 7: Health Monitoring Systems, will offer talks by Janos Veres of PARC, a Xerox Company, Pradeep Lall of Auburn University, Moran Amit of University of California, San Diego and Rob Podoloff of Tekscan, Inc.
Session 8: Direct White & 3D Printing I, will be the focus of talks by Yuan Gu of Laboratory for Physical Sciences, Callum Bailey of United Technologies Research Center, Jialuo Chen of Georgia Institute of Technology and Kurt Christenson of Optomec.
Session 9: Flexible Electronics Applications I will be led by Douglas Hackler of American Semiconductor, Richard Ellinger of American Semiconductor, Josh Finch of New Visual Media Group, LLC and Anthony Flannery of Graftworx.
Session 10: Direct White & 3D Printing II, will be discussed by Jan Vardaman of TechSearch International, Inc.; Emmanuel Van Kerschaver of Meyer Burger Technical Systems (MBTS); Denis Cormier of Rochester Institute of Technology; and Kenneth Church of nScrypt, Inc.
Session 11: Flexible Electronics Applications II, is the topic for Maikel van Hest of National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Yanguang Zhang of National Research Council Canada; Bill Babe of Liquid X Printed Metals; Martin Bolduc of INO - National Optics Institute; and Martin Giersbeck of Robert Bosch GmbH.
Session 12: FE Tools & Methods, will be covered by presenters Michael Simmons of Intellivation; Michiel Top of Fraunhofer FEP; Rahul Raut of Alpha Assembly Solutions; David Arreaga of Ares Materials; and Tsung-Ching Jim Huang of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
2018FLEX concludes on Feb. 15 with eight sessions and 40 presentations. Session 13: Emerging Capabilities, will offer speakers MP Divakar of Stack Design Automation, Joey Mead of University of Massachusetts, Lowell. James Sturm of Princeton University, Boris Galkin of TENFLECS and Thad Druffle of University of Louisville.
Session 14: Standards & Reliability, will feature Neil Bolding of MacDermid Performance Solutions; Pradeep Lall of Auburn University; Justin Chow of Georgia Institute of Technology; Naotsugu Ando of YUASA System; and Doug Suerich of The PEER Group Inc.
Session 15: Flexible Electronics Manufacturing, will be analyzed by John Heitzinger of Interlink Electronics, Brendan Nagle of Multek, Kevin Rose of Fourth Dimension Engineering, Peter Hessney of Sensor Films Inc. and Offir Duman of Flex.
Session 16: Sensors & Power, will be covered by Ana Claudia Arias of University of California, Berkeley; Robert Praino of Chasm Technologies; Brian Berland of ITN Energy Systems; Victor Plotnikov of Lucintech Inc.; and Dominic Miranda of Brewer Science.
Session 17: Substrates, features Sean Garner of Corning Incorporated, Manuela Junghaehnel of Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, Scott Gordon of DuPont Teijin Films, John Olenick of ENrG Incorporated and Radu Reit of Ares Materials.
Session 18: FHE Chip Integration, will be discussed by Michael Santos of Jabil, Amir Hanna of University of California, Los Angeles, Vahid Akhavan of NovaCentrix, Hiroshi Komatsu of Japan Corporation and Peter McClure of Universal Instruments Corporation.
Conductors, the topic of Session 19, will feature Bawa Singh of Alpha Assembly Solutions, Arnold Kell of National Research Council Canada, Harvey Tsang of Army Research Labs, Angel Rodriguez of Boise State University and Alan Shen of University of Connecticut.
Session 20: Next Gen Advancements, will be the focus of Sri Peruvemba of Novasentis; Victoria Tran of Delphon; Abhilash Iyer Saape Designs; Nessima Kaabeche of Emerson & Renwick; and Georgia Gu of MOCON.
Session 21: Process Controls, will be led by Kalsi Kwan of Boeing Research & Technology, Timothy Potts of Dark Field Technologies, Wojtek Walecki of Frontier Semiconductor, Sami Hawasli of Army Research Laboratory and Ahmed Busnaina of Northeastern University.
MSTC 2018
This year, the MEMS & Sensor Technical Congress will be co-located at 2018FLEX, which will add to attendees’ experience.
“The MEMS & Sensors Technical Congress (MSTC) had been a stand-alone event for the past 15 years, originally focused only on MEMS, but in the last few years, also covering the sensors sector,” Hoffman reported. “It is organized by MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (MSIG), which is also a SEMI strategic association partner – similar to FlexTech.
“There is great synergy between the two events. Since the FLEX Conference has for years covered flexible sensor technology, and since FHE, MEMS and sensors are all driving some of the newest electronics product developments, co-locating the events should lead to even more opportunity for technical exchanges among our attendees. Last year’s short course on ‘Sensors and Sensor Systems’ was so popular that we are repeating it again this year,” added Hoffman.
“We believe that co-location brings more opportunities to collaborate with a complementary group of topics and technologists and broadens chances for cross-technology advancements – a win-win situation for all,” she concluded. “Qualcomm is an excellent example of a company that is developing some of the most innovative technologies in all of these sectors and is a key contributor to both events. Other companies presenting during the MSTC sessions, include, Knowles, mCube, NXP Semiconductors, Weill Cornell Medicine, Knowles, ULVAC, Quantum Analytics, Murata, TDK/Icense, and Terahertz Device.”
MSTC 2018 breaks of after the 2018FLEX Plenary sessions, with a Welcome & Keynote talk by SEMI CTO Dr. Frank Shemansky. Peter Adrian of Frost & Sullivan will follow with “Opportunities and Trends for Key Potentially Disruptive Sensor Technologies.”
MSTC 2018’s Session 2, Health & Wellness, will be moderated by Knowles Corporation’s Venkataraman Chandrasekaran, with talks by Shubhadip Paul of NXP Semiconductors, Giovanni Bellusci of Xsens Technologies and Sanjay Bhandari of mCube Inc., and Seyedhamidreza Alaie of Cornell Medicine.
On Feb. 14, MSTC’s Session 3 will feature Dr. Shemansky and Knowles Corporation’s Alexis Bernard. MSTC Session 4, Materials & Characterization, will be moderated by Allyson Hartzell of Veryst Engineering, LLC, with presentations by Koukou Suu of ULVAC Technologies, Markus Schindler of DELO Industrial Adhesives, and Julia Brueckner of Quantum Analytics.
MSTC Session 5: Applications, will be led by moderator Nicole Kerness of Sensor Design and Technology. The speakers are Ville Nurmiainen of Murata; Jeroen Van Ham of TDK/Icsense; and Antti Jaakkola of Tikitin Ltd.
Emerging Technologies, MSTC’s Session 6, will be led by moderator Jason Weigold of MEMStaff Inc. The presenters will be Aernos’ Sundip R. Doshi; Mark Miller of Terahertz Device Corporation; and Henne van Heeren of enablingMNT.
New Features at 2018FLEX
In terms of new features, Hoffman noted that 2018FLEX will have a host of new features this year.
“There are several new exhibitors debuting at 2018FLEX and MSTC 2018, including, Tango, Nanotronics, Roguee Valley Microdevices, and PeerGroup, just to name a few,” Hoffman said. “Always a big draw, SEMI is bringing its Smart Starts Here exhibit, a journey through teardowns of several popular electronic devices – a special place for the electronics geek in all of us.
“We will also be returning the popular series of FLEXTalks to the exhibit hall,” she added. “These talks let attendees get more intimate close-up views of advancements that were only discussed in the technical conference. Those on the agenda this year include Bonbouton, Boeing, PARC, Graftworx, American Semiconductor, Interlink Electronics, Berkeley, AerNos, and Jabil.”
Hoffman said that Monterey is proving to be a good choice to host 2018FLEX.
‘The FLEX event is an annual landmark allowing industry collaboration to take place in ways that are impossible at events focused on exhibitions and marketing presentations,” Hoffman said. “The technical presentations and discussions are of the highest caliber and provide paths forward on important technical issues to enable greater penetration of FHE into products and processes. Just a short 60-minute drive from Silicon Valley and easily accessible via a number of airports, Monterey is an ideal location for FLEX.”
For more information on 2018FLEX, check out the web at www.2018FLEX.com.
Heidi Hoffman, senior director, FHE marketing at SEMI, said that based on technical paper submissions and pre-registration figures, 2018FLEX will be its strongest event in its 17-year history.
“SEMI-FlexTech is anticipating a full house for the 17th annual FLEX,” Hoffman said. “We are back into our traditional February timing and saw an impressive number of paper submissions to the conference. We have a record number of exhibitors and attendee numbers are tracking or exceeding prior years.”
Hoffman noted that the FLEX event has tracked directly with the progress of the flexible electronics field of technology.
“The event began 17 years ago as a small conference exploring the promise and challenges inherent in flexible displays, and quickly expanded to include printing materials, processes, and then the integration of ICs onto flexible substrates,” Hoffman added. “Over the years, the event grew to its current size of more than 600 attendees, 100+ market and technical talks, 60 exhibitors, short courses and many opportunities to connect and meet with others working in a variety of interrelated fields.
“When industry and academia gather at SEMI-FlexTech’s annual FLEX conference in Monterey in February 2018, they will see highlights of recent innovations in flexible and hybrid technology,” she noted. “Speakers will cover numerous products that leverage advancements in design and manufacturing, including bio-monitoring devices, minimally invasive neural interfaces for prosthetics and disease control, and potential applications for flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) in Lithium-ion batteries. Of course, alongside the successes, attention is given equally to exploring the challenges ahead.
2018FLEX’s exhibit space also offers attendees opportunities to learn about the latest developments.
“Beyond the conference portion of FLEX, we also have a sizable exhibition segment so attendees can get a closer look at advancements in materials and equipment – as well preview a slew of FHE-based products. FLEX is also an important forum for creating partnerships between small and large companies to make the ecosystem work.
Hoffman said that there should be plenty of highlights at 2018FLEX.
“Our promise to the attendees at 2018FLEX is that we will cover ‘Materials to Markets’ for flexible hybrid electronics – which means the topics are broad with incredible technical depth,” Hoffman reported. “Speakers will cover substrates, inks and pastes, printers and die-attach equipment, and their processes. The agenda includes coverage of diverse applications, such as asset monitoring, human performance tracking, smart packaging, antennas and communications, and flexible displays – all with embedded flexible electronics. At the component level, many of these technologies share common components and challenges.
The list of speakers includes presenters from US Army RDECOM-ARDEC, Boeing, HP, Flex, Panasonic, Robert Bosch GmbH and more.
“In terms of speakers, our keynotes will provide a great overview of all of the key FHE Markets: Panasonic on power, Draper Labs on drones, Thin Film Electronics on smart packaging, NASA on 3D printing, Cortera Neurotechnologies on flexible biosensors, Luminit on human-machine interfaces, and IHS Markit on flexible displays and other FHE markets,” Hoffman added. “The ongoing challenges in working with thin silicon is always a popular session, and this year, we will hear from Jabil, PARC, GE and Universal Instruments on this topic. The topic of 3D printing of both full devices and as an additive process continues to draw a lot of attention. Speakers from TechSearch, UTRC, Meyer Berger, Optomec and nScrypt will take a deep dive into what’s hot in 3D printing.”
Hoffman observed that flexible display technology will be a highlight as well, with LG Displays giving the opening talk, followed by UDC, Clearink Displays, Atom Optoelectronics and Display Supply Chain Consultants.
“FLEX attendees will also have the rare opportunity to learn more about government investment in FHE as they hear from government and industry leaders from US Army R&D Center Picatinny, Boeing and NextFlex,” Hoffman said. “Panelists from SI2 Technologies, DOD, The Army Armament Research Development and Engineering, and the Air Force Research Lab’s Airman Systems Directorate will clarify how small businesses can partner with DOD on FHE-based technologies. “
In addition, the 2018FLEX App has a feature where all of the talks are also divided into topical tracks of Flex Displays, Communications, Flexible Products, IC Integration, Manufacturing on Flex, MedTech, Printed, Sensors and MEMS.
2018FLEX Highlights
Four Short Courses and a Panel Discussion are on tap when 2018FLEX opens on Monday, Feb. 12. These include:
• Basics, Flexible Hybrid Electronics & Lab to Fab – Mark Poliks, Binghamton University; James J. Watkins, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; and Mike Mastropietro of NextFlex.
• Challenges and Solutions for Integration of Sensors with Flexible, Hybrid, Printed Systems – Chip Spangler of Aspen Microsystems and Mary Ann Maher of SoftMEMS
• Flexible Device Integration & Packaging – Pradeep Lall of Auburn University.
• Next Generation Flexible Displays – Paul Cain of FlexEnable, Mike Hack of Universal Displays, Erica Montbach of Kent Displays and D. Scott Bull of E Ink.
• Applications Panel Discussion, which is open to all, offers panelists Nancy Stoffel of GE Global Research, Jeff Spindler of OLEDWorks LLC, Al Compaan of Lucintech, and Tatsuo Ogawa of Panasonic.
Tuesday, Feb. 13 opens with two Plenary sessions, both focused on Applications & Markets. Plenary 1, Applications & Markets I, will start with 2018FLEX Introduction & Welcome from Ajit Manocha, president & CEO of SEMI, followed by a talk on Market Data.
Rikky Muller, co-founder and CTO, Cortera Neurotechnologies, will discuss “Minimally Invasive Wireless Neural Interfaces.” Tatsuo Ogawa, director, manufacturing technology & engineering, Panasonic, will follow with “Market and Technology Overview of Li-ion Battery.” The FLEXI Awards Ceremony will follow.
Plenary 2: Applications & Markets II will start with “In-Space Manufacturing: A Multimaterial Fab Lab for the International Space Station,” presented by Meyya Meyyappan, chief scientist for exploration technology with NASA Ames Research Center. Seth Coe Sullivan, VP & CTO of Luminit, will discuss “Automotive Head-Up Displays in the Era of Driverless Cars.”
“Printing Thermally Stable Conductors Using Low Temperature Processing for Power Electronics, RF, & UAV Applications” will be given by Greg Fritz, materials scientist at Draper, and Thin Film Electronics COO Peter Fischer will close Plenary 2 with his talk on “Commercializing Flexible Electronics.”
Session 3 features a panel discussion on Start-Up Business Strategies, covering “Identifying Opportunities for Small Businesses to Partner with the DoD in FHE Innovations.” The panel,which will be moderated by Joseph Kunze of S12 Technologies, will feature panelists Tracy Frost, director, DoD Manufacturing Institutes, Office of the Secretary of Defense Manufacturing & Industrial Base Policy; James Zunino, project officer, Army Armament Research, Development, & Engineering Center; Christian Whitchurch, chief scientist, Defense Threat Reduction Agency J9-CBA; James Christensen, Airman Sensing & Assessment portfolio manager, Air Force Research Laboratory Airman Systems Directorate; and Kevin Kluska, program lead for tailored solutions, US Government.
Session 4, Displays, will feature talks by Mike Hack of Universal Display; Frank Christiaens of CLEARInk Displays; Huaping Li Atom of Optoelectronics; and Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC).
The Feb. 14 2018FLEX schedule features 34 talks during eight concurrent sessions, and begins with the Women in Tech Breakfast. There are then a pair of concurrent sessions running throughout the day.
Session 5: Health Monitors, will be covered by Azar Alizadeh of GE Global Research, David Schwartz of PARC, a Xerox Company, Linh Le of Bonbouton, and Canek Fuentes-Hernandez of Georgia Institute of Technology.
Session 6: RF & Security, will feature James Zunino of US Army RDECOM-ARDEC; John Rogers of Boeing Research & Technology; Carolyn Ellinger of Eastman Kodak; and Jimmy Hester of Georgia Institute of Technology.
Session 7: Health Monitoring Systems, will offer talks by Janos Veres of PARC, a Xerox Company, Pradeep Lall of Auburn University, Moran Amit of University of California, San Diego and Rob Podoloff of Tekscan, Inc.
Session 8: Direct White & 3D Printing I, will be the focus of talks by Yuan Gu of Laboratory for Physical Sciences, Callum Bailey of United Technologies Research Center, Jialuo Chen of Georgia Institute of Technology and Kurt Christenson of Optomec.
Session 9: Flexible Electronics Applications I will be led by Douglas Hackler of American Semiconductor, Richard Ellinger of American Semiconductor, Josh Finch of New Visual Media Group, LLC and Anthony Flannery of Graftworx.
Session 10: Direct White & 3D Printing II, will be discussed by Jan Vardaman of TechSearch International, Inc.; Emmanuel Van Kerschaver of Meyer Burger Technical Systems (MBTS); Denis Cormier of Rochester Institute of Technology; and Kenneth Church of nScrypt, Inc.
Session 11: Flexible Electronics Applications II, is the topic for Maikel van Hest of National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Yanguang Zhang of National Research Council Canada; Bill Babe of Liquid X Printed Metals; Martin Bolduc of INO - National Optics Institute; and Martin Giersbeck of Robert Bosch GmbH.
Session 12: FE Tools & Methods, will be covered by presenters Michael Simmons of Intellivation; Michiel Top of Fraunhofer FEP; Rahul Raut of Alpha Assembly Solutions; David Arreaga of Ares Materials; and Tsung-Ching Jim Huang of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
2018FLEX concludes on Feb. 15 with eight sessions and 40 presentations. Session 13: Emerging Capabilities, will offer speakers MP Divakar of Stack Design Automation, Joey Mead of University of Massachusetts, Lowell. James Sturm of Princeton University, Boris Galkin of TENFLECS and Thad Druffle of University of Louisville.
Session 14: Standards & Reliability, will feature Neil Bolding of MacDermid Performance Solutions; Pradeep Lall of Auburn University; Justin Chow of Georgia Institute of Technology; Naotsugu Ando of YUASA System; and Doug Suerich of The PEER Group Inc.
Session 15: Flexible Electronics Manufacturing, will be analyzed by John Heitzinger of Interlink Electronics, Brendan Nagle of Multek, Kevin Rose of Fourth Dimension Engineering, Peter Hessney of Sensor Films Inc. and Offir Duman of Flex.
Session 16: Sensors & Power, will be covered by Ana Claudia Arias of University of California, Berkeley; Robert Praino of Chasm Technologies; Brian Berland of ITN Energy Systems; Victor Plotnikov of Lucintech Inc.; and Dominic Miranda of Brewer Science.
Session 17: Substrates, features Sean Garner of Corning Incorporated, Manuela Junghaehnel of Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, Scott Gordon of DuPont Teijin Films, John Olenick of ENrG Incorporated and Radu Reit of Ares Materials.
Session 18: FHE Chip Integration, will be discussed by Michael Santos of Jabil, Amir Hanna of University of California, Los Angeles, Vahid Akhavan of NovaCentrix, Hiroshi Komatsu of Japan Corporation and Peter McClure of Universal Instruments Corporation.
Conductors, the topic of Session 19, will feature Bawa Singh of Alpha Assembly Solutions, Arnold Kell of National Research Council Canada, Harvey Tsang of Army Research Labs, Angel Rodriguez of Boise State University and Alan Shen of University of Connecticut.
Session 20: Next Gen Advancements, will be the focus of Sri Peruvemba of Novasentis; Victoria Tran of Delphon; Abhilash Iyer Saape Designs; Nessima Kaabeche of Emerson & Renwick; and Georgia Gu of MOCON.
Session 21: Process Controls, will be led by Kalsi Kwan of Boeing Research & Technology, Timothy Potts of Dark Field Technologies, Wojtek Walecki of Frontier Semiconductor, Sami Hawasli of Army Research Laboratory and Ahmed Busnaina of Northeastern University.
MSTC 2018
This year, the MEMS & Sensor Technical Congress will be co-located at 2018FLEX, which will add to attendees’ experience.
“The MEMS & Sensors Technical Congress (MSTC) had been a stand-alone event for the past 15 years, originally focused only on MEMS, but in the last few years, also covering the sensors sector,” Hoffman reported. “It is organized by MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (MSIG), which is also a SEMI strategic association partner – similar to FlexTech.
“There is great synergy between the two events. Since the FLEX Conference has for years covered flexible sensor technology, and since FHE, MEMS and sensors are all driving some of the newest electronics product developments, co-locating the events should lead to even more opportunity for technical exchanges among our attendees. Last year’s short course on ‘Sensors and Sensor Systems’ was so popular that we are repeating it again this year,” added Hoffman.
“We believe that co-location brings more opportunities to collaborate with a complementary group of topics and technologists and broadens chances for cross-technology advancements – a win-win situation for all,” she concluded. “Qualcomm is an excellent example of a company that is developing some of the most innovative technologies in all of these sectors and is a key contributor to both events. Other companies presenting during the MSTC sessions, include, Knowles, mCube, NXP Semiconductors, Weill Cornell Medicine, Knowles, ULVAC, Quantum Analytics, Murata, TDK/Icense, and Terahertz Device.”
MSTC 2018 breaks of after the 2018FLEX Plenary sessions, with a Welcome & Keynote talk by SEMI CTO Dr. Frank Shemansky. Peter Adrian of Frost & Sullivan will follow with “Opportunities and Trends for Key Potentially Disruptive Sensor Technologies.”
MSTC 2018’s Session 2, Health & Wellness, will be moderated by Knowles Corporation’s Venkataraman Chandrasekaran, with talks by Shubhadip Paul of NXP Semiconductors, Giovanni Bellusci of Xsens Technologies and Sanjay Bhandari of mCube Inc., and Seyedhamidreza Alaie of Cornell Medicine.
On Feb. 14, MSTC’s Session 3 will feature Dr. Shemansky and Knowles Corporation’s Alexis Bernard. MSTC Session 4, Materials & Characterization, will be moderated by Allyson Hartzell of Veryst Engineering, LLC, with presentations by Koukou Suu of ULVAC Technologies, Markus Schindler of DELO Industrial Adhesives, and Julia Brueckner of Quantum Analytics.
MSTC Session 5: Applications, will be led by moderator Nicole Kerness of Sensor Design and Technology. The speakers are Ville Nurmiainen of Murata; Jeroen Van Ham of TDK/Icsense; and Antti Jaakkola of Tikitin Ltd.
Emerging Technologies, MSTC’s Session 6, will be led by moderator Jason Weigold of MEMStaff Inc. The presenters will be Aernos’ Sundip R. Doshi; Mark Miller of Terahertz Device Corporation; and Henne van Heeren of enablingMNT.
New Features at 2018FLEX
In terms of new features, Hoffman noted that 2018FLEX will have a host of new features this year.
“There are several new exhibitors debuting at 2018FLEX and MSTC 2018, including, Tango, Nanotronics, Roguee Valley Microdevices, and PeerGroup, just to name a few,” Hoffman said. “Always a big draw, SEMI is bringing its Smart Starts Here exhibit, a journey through teardowns of several popular electronic devices – a special place for the electronics geek in all of us.
“We will also be returning the popular series of FLEXTalks to the exhibit hall,” she added. “These talks let attendees get more intimate close-up views of advancements that were only discussed in the technical conference. Those on the agenda this year include Bonbouton, Boeing, PARC, Graftworx, American Semiconductor, Interlink Electronics, Berkeley, AerNos, and Jabil.”
Hoffman said that Monterey is proving to be a good choice to host 2018FLEX.
‘The FLEX event is an annual landmark allowing industry collaboration to take place in ways that are impossible at events focused on exhibitions and marketing presentations,” Hoffman said. “The technical presentations and discussions are of the highest caliber and provide paths forward on important technical issues to enable greater penetration of FHE into products and processes. Just a short 60-minute drive from Silicon Valley and easily accessible via a number of airports, Monterey is an ideal location for FLEX.”
For more information on 2018FLEX, check out the web at www.2018FLEX.com.
