2020 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting To Highlight Innovative Devices for a Better Future

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The 66th annual IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting  (IEDM), to be held virtually December 12-16, 2020, will uphold the conference’s tradition as the world’s premier forum for the presentation of applied research in transistors and related devices, which are the building blocks of modern electronics technology.

This year’s theme is “Innovative Devices for a Better Future,” which reflects the fact that, at a time of great global uncertainty, electronics technology is being used much more broadly than ever before to address the world’s most pressing challenges.

“The work to be presented at the IEDM is vital to society, and while we will miss the in-person interactions that normally take place at the conference, the fact it will be virtual this year makes it accessible to a larger worldwide audience,” said Dina Triyoso, IEDM 2020 Publicity Chair and Technologist at TEL Technology Center, America, LLC. “People who couldn’t attend the IEDM in prior years for any number of reasons such as visa difficulties, limited time or travel funds, and so forth, now have a chance to participate, interact with technology leaders, learn and enjoy the conference.” 

“The IEDM can be viewed as a leading technology indicator,” said Meng-Fan (Marvin) Chang, IEEE Fellow and Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering at National Tsing Hua University. “That is because the program will disclose state-of-the-art results from semiconductor manufacturers and research institutions around the world. This combination of scientific research and industrial innovation allows the IEDM to provide an excellent snapshot and forecast of the semiconductor industry.”

The deadline for regular paper submissions has already passed, but truly outstanding work submitted for consideration as late news is being accepted until October 2. Therefore, the complete technical program for IEDM 2020 will be finalized in the fall. However, many of the scheduled events and topics have already been set, including the Plenary speakers, Tutorials, Short Courses and Special Focus Sessions. Here are details:

Plenary Presentations – Monday, Dec. 14 (two speakers have been confirmed to date)

• Sungwoo Hwang, President, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology – “Symbiosis of Semiconductors, AI and Quantum Computing”
• Sri Samavedam, Senior VP CMOS Technologies, imec – “Future Logic Scaling: Atomic Channels to Deconstructed Chips”
• Naga Chandrasekaran, Senior VP of Process R&D and Operations, Micron Technology – Title of talk not set as of press time
• 90-Minute Tutorials – Saturday, Dec. 12

The 90-minute IEDM tutorial sessions on emerging technologies are presented by experts in their fields, with the goal of bridging the gap between textbook-level knowledge and leading-edge current research.  The topics for 2020 are:

• Quantum Computing Technologies, Dr. Maud Vinet, CEA Leti
• Advanced Packaging Technologies for Heterogeneous Integration, Dr. Ravi Mahajan & Dr. Sairam Agraharam, Intel
• Memory-Centric Computing Systems, Prof. Onur Mutlu, ETH Zurich
• Imaging Devices and Systems for Future Society, Dr. Yusuke Oike, Sony Semiconductor Solutions
• Innovative Technology Elements to Enable CMOS Scaling in 3nm and Beyond – Device Architectures, Parasitics and Materials, Dr. Myung-Hee Na, imec
• STT and SOT MRAM Technologies and Their Applications from IoT to AI Systems, Prof. Tetsuo Endoh, Tohoku Univ.

Short Courses – Sunday, Dec. 13

• The IEDM Short Courses offer the opportunity to learn about important areas and developments, and to network with global experts. This year’s courses are:
• Innovative Trends in Device Technology to Enable the Next Computing Revolution, organized by Anne Vandooren, imec. The course will cover a range of relevant topics, including nanosheet/slab transistor performance boosters; vias and interconnect (ILD); packaging technologies for 3D integration; RF front-end modules; power delivery/regulation; and monolithic and chiplet integration.
• Memory-Bound Computing, organized by Ian Young, Intel. The topics to be discussed include the role of persistent memory for high-performance computing; HBM D-RAM and beyond; memory for secure computing; PUCFs for hardware security; alternate SRAM technologies; analog memory needs for AI; and one-shot learning with memory-augmented neural networks.
• Evening Panel Session – Tuesday evening, Dec. 15

Each year the IEDM offers attendees an evening session where experts give their views on important industry topics. For 2020, the IEDM has partnered with the journals Nature and Nature Electronics to bring you this unique panel discussion. The panel will be moderated by Ed Gerstner, Director of Journal Policy & Strategy for Springer Nature, and is on the following timely topic:

What Can Electronics Do to Solve the Grand Societal Challenges Going Forward?

Following a year of global upheaval and acute challenges, this panel discussion will reflect on the place of electronics and the semiconductor industry in the future world. It will bring together experts from across science, technology, media and policy to discuss future directions of microelectronics, and will explore the role future technologies can play in addressing grand societal challenges and in creating a more sustainable, equitable future. It will also consider challenges in attracting the best students and the evolution of electronics education to suit future needs.

Special Focus Sessions

Six Special Focus Sessions on key emerging technologies will be held as part of IEDM 2020. The presentations in these sessions will encompass a range of topics addressing the gaps, challenges and opportunities for these new approaches and technologies, including system-level issues and requirements; benchmarks of current technologies; and R&D directions for the new materials, devices, circuits, and modeling/manufacturing approaches needed:

• Technologies Enabling 5G and Beyond – 5G is the fifth and next generation of cellular technology, promising much faster network speeds, capacity, lower latency, reduced transmission costs per bit and expanded connectivity. It will enable a host of new communications and computing approaches and applications.
• Future Interconnect Technology – Interconnect is the wiring which connects transistors and other devices in an integrated circuit (IC). One key interconnect-related issue is that the performance of advanced ICs is limited by the increasing resistance/capacitance of the interconnect as it scales to smaller and smaller dimensions. Another key issue is the need for effective interconnect strategies for a range of 3D and 2.5D chip architecture and packaging possibilities.
• Advanced IC Design and Integration in Wide-Bandgap Technologies – Wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors have a relatively large energy bandgap versus silicon semiconductors, leading to smaller, faster, and more efficient devices. These capabilities make WBG devices attractive for a wide range of power applications, but converters powered by WBG devices require much innovation.
• Device Technologies for Cryogenic Electronics – Cryogenic electronics refers to the operation of electronic devices at temperatures from about ?150 °C (?238 °F) to absolute zero (?273 °C or ?460 °F). The theoretical performance of electronics in this range is better than that of conventional devices because of effects such as improved thermal/electrical conductivity, lower operating power, reduction of parasitic losses, and diminished chemical/metallurgical degradation, among others. However, much work is needed to realize the full potential of cryogenic devices.
• Energy Harvesting and Wireless Power Transmission – Ambient energy is all around us, whether from light, heat, motion, vibration, stray electric/magnetic fields, or other sources. Converting it into electrical power, and transmitting that power without wires, is key to the ability to develop more capable autonomous, wireless, remote, and hard/impossible-to-connect devices for a variety of uses.
• Next-Generation Design/Technology Co-Optimization (DTCO) – Given the increasing sophistication and complexity of semiconductor devices and software design tools, bringing hardware and software developers together to work in an integrated, efficient manner is needed in order to produce future semiconductor devices more quickly and at less cost, but there are many challenges.