Send us your feedback . Sales pitches, technobabble, egotistical opinions, or just plain gossip provide the quantum energy source on the trade-show floor and in the bars and restaurants after hours. In the interests of fostering good chatter, here are some suggested Semicon conversation topics.
People often refer to the front and back ends of a particular process cluster.
Anyone who throws out these terms better be prepared to define them before becoming bogged down in a morass of misunderstanding. Expect the usual comments about Applied Materials gobbling up someone from the photolithography segment. But then, acquisition isn't the only way to get into that business. Buttonhole an ex-Digital Semiconductor employee or Intel minion involved in the transition of what was Digital's Fab 6 to what is now Intel's Fab 17. One subject that should garner increasing airtime as we stumble toward the new century is the Y2K problem, commonly called the Millennium bug.