Manufacturing Science & Technical Group

The Manufacturing Science and Technology Technical Group (MSTG) was the first Technical Group to be formed.
Its charter was approved by the Board in September, 1994.

The Chairs have been: 

The origins of both Technical Groups in general and of the Manufacturing Science and Technology Technical Group in particular is recalled by Gary Rubloff.

“The AVS Manufacturing Science and Technology Group sprung from the national need for industry competitiveness in manufacturing, the responsiveness of the AVS to the concerns and interests of its professional membership, and the strong industrial representation that has characterized the AVS over its history.

The 1980’s witnessed growing concern about the competitiveness of U.S. industry, particularly with respect to Japan and its effectiveness in manufacturing.  While the U.S. research enterprise remained the world leader, connectivity between fundamental research and industrial applications was somehow inadequate to deliver competitive advantage.  Furthermore, the U.S. R&D community had little if any focus on the challenges of manufacturing, and much less interest in identifying and pursuing the  important research issues to be found in manufacturing.  The criticality of research connectivity and manufacturing were emphasized in a number of national studies, leading for example to the NSF’s Engineering Research Center program and to increasing discussion of these problems. These concerns were perhaps nowhere greater than in the semiconductor industry, where Japanese technology had scored huge advances, manufacturing enjoyed major attention and respect, and the economy reflected serious global competition.

Since 1986 at IBM, Michael Liehr and I had been developing and exploiting the research tools of surface and materials science for the understanding and improvement of semiconductor processes. In the early 1990’s, both Michael and I moved to research management positions in Manufacturing Research at IBM Yorktown, continuing our work but placing an emphasis on central research issues of manufacturing.  We recognized that manufacturing – as a science and a research topic – was not widely recognized or well regarded in our external research community.  Yet the professional community had clearly identified the importance of manufacturing – and its link to research – for economic and technological competitiveness. 

Sometime in 1992 I proposed to Michael that we volunteer to run an AVS Topical Conference on Manufacturing at the National Symposium.  Topical Conferences had become a successful vehicle for emphasizing key issues at AVS, and the Society had issued its call for Topical Conference suggestions.  This one seemed timely and perfect.  Grounded in the EMPD subculture at the time, and realizing that Charlie Duke had been instrumental in founding the EMPD and moving the AVS into more applied areas of surface science, we solicited Charlie’s advice and participation, which we were very grateful to obtain.  The AVS welcomed and endorsed the idea, and what would become the MSTG was born.

Returning to IBM, we sought the help of John Armstrong, then IBM Research Vice-President for Logic and Memory.  John helped us recruit an esteemed set of speakers for an all-invited plenary session, including Joe Bordogna (then head of NSF Engineering Directorate), Tommy George (then President of Motorola SPS), and other distinguished leaders of chip manufacturers, equipment suppliers, and the university community. This session has become a staple of MSTG.  To expand interest and awareness of manufacturing science and technology, we titled the conference “A Key to Competitiveness: The Science and Technology of Manufacturing".  We distributed this primer at the Topical Conference (Nov., 1993), and published the primer in JVST as “Concepts in Competitive Microelectronics Manufacturing” (JVST B12 (4), 2727-2740, Jul/Aug 1994).  The primary themes of the Conference, and later of the MSTG, were equipment design, process integration and yield, contamination and defects, and sensors and process control.  We publicized the conference particularly to industry researchers and practitioners, and it achieved significant industry participation.

During the preparation for the 1993 Topical Conference and afterward, we received great enthusiasm from the AVS, particularly from Technical Director Rey Whetten.  We agreed to run a second Topical Conference in 1994, but by that time the focus of the Society’s encouragement had become the establishment of a new AVS Division in manufacturing.  It was as if the AVS community had been waiting for the chance to address such an important opportunity. 

In response, an informal group of protagonists emerged who helped us enormously.  Christine Whitman, then President of CVC Products, was a long-time AVS activist and then AVS Board member, was particularly helpful in engaging the supplier community and in recruiting key people.  Alain Diebold, Sematech’s leader in metrology, made important connections in the industry and moved tirelessly to effect our goals.  Jeff Coriale, Industry Liason for the NC State AEMP Center, took on a coordination role which gave stability to our motion.  We developed an Executive Committee as a steering group, including strong representation from industry. We developed a large mailing list and publicized our focus through industry vehicles (e.g., “Research for the Competitive Marketplace: AVS Establishes a Multidisciplinary Forum for Manufacturing Science and Technology”, Industry Observation, Semiconductor International, p. 112 (Sept. 1994)).

The AVS leadership was strongly supportive of a long-term commitment to Manufacturing Science and Technology, though cognizant of the precedent and risk involved.  Significant discussion occurred, both informally and at the AVS Board of Directors, about the formation of a new AVS Division.  The enthusiasm was not only for manufacturing, but for a flexible mechanism by which AVS could capture and lead in professional discussions on critical new research issues.   Rey Whetten developed the idea of a Technical Group, reporting to the AVS Board in parallel to the Divisions.  The Technical Group would be more flexible, more able to make its own rules than allowed by the Bylaws for Divisions, and could choose to remain long-term, dissolve, or petition to change to Division status. The manufacturing group endorsed the Technical Group idea, the AVS Board approved the establishment of the Manufacturing Science and Technology Group in 1994, with me as the Founding Chair, and a new mode of AVS achievement emerged.  

The MSTG remains an important component of the AVS landscape, particularly in helping to maintain a strong industrial representation in AVS.  In some sense the relation to other AVS Divisions has matured.  PSTD has always had a significant manufacturing relation, which may account in part for its tremendous success over many years, and a workable coordination between MSTG and PSTD was established at the outset.  Other divisions, especially EMPD, VTD, and ASSD, have collaborated with MSTG in programs and joint sessions. And they seem to have internalized some of the issues initially emphasized by MSTG, a beneficial development." 

The MSTG presents awards for the best papers at the Symposium given by students and by a Post-Doctoral Fellow; up to three students and one Post-Doctoral Fellow receive $500 each.

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