Conference Reports

Xiaowei Li Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences The 12th Asian Test Symposium (ATS 2003) took place in Xi’an, China, from 16 to 19 November 2003. A record showing of 158 participants from 17 countries and regions underscored the success of this symposium. ATS 2003 featured a half-day tutorial, two keynote speeches, and 26 paper sessions hosting 88 paper presentations. Yervant Zorian of Virage Logic began the symposium by giving a half-day tutorial, “System-on-Chip: Embedded Test in Practice,” to 32 participants. Zorian provided a great opportunity for attendees to hear about his experiences with practical SoC testing. This tutorial was part of the IEEE Test Technology Technical Council’s (TTTC’s) Test Technology Education Program (TTEP). The following two keynote speeches addressed new test challenges from the academic and industrial points of view. Kewal K. Saluja (University of WisconsinMadison) presented the academic point of view in his keynote speech “Outstanding Challenges in Testing Nanotechnology-Based Integrated Circuits.” Saluja raised questions in three dominant testing domains: traditional technologies, power, and test application time. He highlighted the research on signal integrity problems, crosstalk fault testing, and operational-life fault detection. Zorian then offered the industrial point of view with his keynote speech “Leveraging Infrastructure IP for Yield and Reliability.” In this speech, he introduced the basic types of infrastructure IP and explained their effectiveness in improving yield and reliability. He illustrated the need for such infrastructure IP by analyzing the key trends and challenges that cause manufacturing susceptibility and field reliability. Part of this talk covered examples of embedded IP for detection, analysis, and correction. In addition to exchanging ideas in technical sessions, participants gathered to visit cultural relics and historical landmarks in Xi’an (Cheng’an), one of the famous ancient capitals of the world. Participants found ATS 2003 to be fruitful and interesting, and enjoyed their stay in Xi’an. Conference organizers videotaped some sessions and photographed all of the presenters. These digital records will soon be available at http://ats03.ict.ac.cn. The 13th Asian Test Symposium (ATS 2004) will take place from 15 to 17 November 2004 in Kenting, Taiwan.