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From the snow of the Sierras to the sands of the Pacific we’re blessed in California to choose our scenery for the holidays. These grandeurs pale in comparison to the company of family and friends.

May you and your family be blessed with health and prosperity in 2011!

The committee made the following awards for the presentations at the 20th annual IEEE Semiconductor Wafer Test Workshop (SWTW):

Most Inspirational went to two SV Probe authors:

• Rehan Kazmi, SV Probe, “Measuring Current Carrying Capability (CCC) of Vertical Probes”
• Senthil Theppakuttai, SV Probe, “Probing Assessment on Fine Pitch Copper Pillar Solder Bumps”

Best Presentation, Tutorial in Nature went to Michael Huebner of FormFactor, “High Speed Control Bus for Advanced TRE”.

Best Data Presented – Denis Deegan of Analog Devices, “Contacting various metal compositions using ViProbe Vertical Technology”.

Best Presentation Overall – Matt Losey of Touchdown Technologies, “Low-Force MEMS Probe Solution for Full Wafer Single Touch Test”.

It is interesting to note that all but one of the papers cited above were in Session Eight – Area Array Probing of the workshop.

Also noted in the wrap-up remarks:

• The final attendance count was 291.
• Next year the conference will be June 12-15, 2011 at the Rancho Bernando Inn.

My impression from talking with many of my friends and colleagues at SWTW is that 2010 will be a very robust year especially in light of last year’s sharp decline. Here is hoping that the industry outperforms VLSIresearch’s forecast of 25.6% growth in 2010!