The 36th European Mask and Lithography Conference (EMLC) took place on 22 June 2021 as a virtual event.
Unfortunately, the EMLC 2021 could not be held as a face-to-face-event as in the years before. However, as the conference already had to be cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic situation, the programme committee agreed that the EMLC should definitely take place in 2021. Instead of the familiar lecture/session structure, four live panels were organised which not only gave the panellists the opportunity to present their positions, but also allowed the audience to actively participate in the discussion. With interesting topics, expert discussion partners and a time slot that also allowed professional colleagues from North America and Asia to participate, the cornerstones of the EMLC 2021 were set. As in the past, organisational support came from the VDE.
As to the content, the panels addressed a great variety of topics, e. g. EUV lithography
(Panel 1) and the necessary infrastructure, especially the mask infrastructure (Panel 2), the currently very intensively discussed topic of analysing large amounts of data for further optimisation of existing semiconductor manufacturing processes (Panel 3), as well as various aspects of recruiting skilled workers (Panel 4). All panels were staffed with internationally renowned experts from the semiconductor industry. The panel discussions were led by the Panel Chairs Jo Finders (ASML) and Albrecht Ehrmann (Carl Zeiss SMT) for Panel 1, Jan Hendrik Peters (bmbg Consult) and Martin Tschinkl (TOPPAN Europe) for Panel 2, Bertrand Le Gratiet (ST Microelectronics) and Serap Savari (Texas A&M University) for Panel 3 and Andreas Erdmann (Fraunhofer IISB) and Ines Stolberg (Vistec Electron Beam) for Panel 4. After a short introduction to the topic by the panellists at the beginning of each panel, a valuable discussion developed, especially with the involvement of the conference participants.
EMLC 2021 was supported by AMTC, Applied Materials, EQUIcon, Heidelberg Instruments, HOYA, Infineon, Intel, TOPPAN Photomask, Vistec Electron Beam and Carl Zeiss.
All in all, the organisers, including the Chairman, Dr. Uwe Behringer, have been satisfied with the event, attesting the EMLC Event 2021 a positive outcome.
Yes, you might have missed personal contacts and direct exchange of opinions, parameters, which have always been important for the evaluation of conferences, not only for the EMLC Event 2021. However, in this respect the EMLC Committee Members are optimistic and for this reason they already started planning for the 37th EMLC Conference which will take place in Leuven, Belgium, from 20 - 22 June 2022, hopefully as face-to-face-event in the usual form.
Ines Stolberg
