A Commitment to the Next Generation
The event opened with a comprehensive series of Professional Development Courses, followed by the inaugural Student-Industry “Classroom to Career” session. This interactive session featured insightful career‑focused presentations from iMAPS President Dan Krueger and Director Scott Hayes, Arizona State University student Pallavi Jithendrriyan, and industry leaders from IBM and Amkor Technology. Students then engaged in round‑table discussions with representatives from Amkor, NXP, Saras Micro Devices, Cadence Design Systems, Henkel, and VIEW Micro Metrology. These types of student‑industry interactions exemplify IMAPS’ commitment to fostering future leadership in microelectronics, and it was encouraging to see strong participation and meaningful dialogue among emerging professionals.
Keynote Presentations
Keynote speakers from NVIDIA, Infineon, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and AGC Inc. highlighted advancements in the optical interconnect market, with a central focus on silicon photonics as a solution to growing power consumption challenges in AI‑driven data centers. Co‑Packaged Optics (CPO) continue to demonstrate significant efficiency gains over copper, particularly in long‑distance server applications. A clear trend emerged: even incremental optical interface improvements can yield substantial power savings, with further progress being driven through collaboration and knowledge sharing facilitated by organizations like IMAPS.
Exhibition Hall
The exhibition hall featured 96 vendors, including VIEW. Our booth experienced strong interest from packaging professionals, sparked by demonstration videos showcasing wire bonding and through glass/silicon via measurement applications. A notable visitor was Gabriela Pereira, Technology and Market Analyst at the Yole Group – a respected industry expert and frequent keynote speaker and panelist at semiconductor events.
A recurring insight from booth conversations was that many packaging professionals may not yet fully recognize the capabilities of high magnification optical measurement. While many attendees inquired about conventional AOI tools, fewer had considered the broader strategic value of metrology data – such as its role in post‑recipe analysis, measurement traceability, and alignment with national metrology standards. We took the opportunity to educate visitors, particularly students and early‑career engineers, on the deeper advantages of advanced optical metrology.
Special thanks go to the iMAPS DPC 2026 organizing committee and the event sponsors, including ASE, Amkor Technologies, DECA, IBM, MacDermid Alpha, STATSChipPAC, and others. We look forward to the IMAPS Symposium gathering in Boston in late September!
