MarchApril 2011

The ESD Association newsletter, published for everyone with an interest in the understanding and control of electrostatic discharge. Volume 27, No. 2 March/April 2011 In this issue THRESHOLD TM IEW, pages 1&11 From the President, pages 2-3 Q&A, page 4 SMTA Paper Exchange, page 4 Volunteer Spotlight, pages 5-6 RCJ Paper Exchange, page 6 Education, pages 7-9 ESD On Campus, page 10 Standards Update, pages 12-14 Tech Talk, pages 15-17 Local Sparks, page 18 Symposium, page 19 Calendar, page 20 Photo Corner, page 21 The International ESDWorkshop (IEW) management committee is pleased to announce the final technical program for the 2011 IEW, with a strong series of technical presentations, seminars, invited talks, special interest group meetings, and discussion groups addressing the hottest topics in ESD. The technical program includes advances in system-level and high- voltage ESD as well as studies of component protection techniques for advanced technologies. An expanded poster format provides an opportunity for deep technical discussions and networking. Technical sessions feature presentations covering the following subjects: • System-Level ESD • Device-Level ESD • Tester Interactions • ESDA Tools • Class-0 ESD Protection The invited talks at this year’s workshop will focus on communication electronics, with speakers from the cell phone, mobile device, and network communication fields describing ESD problems and solutions in their industries. In addition, our keynote speaker, Greg Leyh, who has been featured on The Discovery Channel’s show Mythbusters, will discuss the large-scale physics of atmospheric electricity. Ability of Evanescent Electric Fields to Deliver Potentially Devastating Amounts of Power over Laboratory- Scale Distances Greg Leyh, Nevada Lightning Laboratory Cell Phone Front End ESD Challenges Eugene Worley, Qualcomm ESD Design and Performance Challenges in High-Speed Serial Links of 20 Gb/s and Beyond Thomas Morf (Presenter), Junjun Li, Christian Menolfi, Thomas Toifl, Peter Dill, Marcel Kossel, Peter Buchmann, Matthias Braendli, IBM; Vivek Sharma, Andrea Prati, Miromico System Level ESD: A Networking Perspective Richard Wong, Cisco Systems High Speed I/O (Transceiver) Design Charles Chu, Altera Corporation The seminars this year cover four important topics addressing the challenges of ESD design in a changing industry. Seminar topics The International ESD Workshop (IEW) May 16-19, 2011 Stanford Sierra Conference Center, Lake Tahoe, CA Continued on page 11