The SBMicro symposium is a forum dedicated to fabrication and modeling of microsystems, integrated circuits and devices. The goal of the symposium is to bring together researchers in the areas of processing, materials, characterization, modeling and TCAD of integrated circuits, microsensors, microactuators and MEMS. This issue of ECS Transactions contains the papers presented at the 2008 conference.

The SBMicro symposium is a forum dedicated to fabrication and modeling of Microsystems, integrated circuits and devices. The goal of the symposium is to bring together researchers in the areas of processing, materials, characterization, modeling and TCAD of integrated circuits, microsensors, microactuators, and MEMS. This issue contains the papers presented at the 2007 conference.

Held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from September 6 - September 9, 2010, the mission of the 25th Symposium on Microelectronics Technology and Devices ¿ SBMicro2010 was to share ideas and to point to new directions for future research and development. SBMicro offers researchers and practitioners a unique opportunity to share their perspectives with those interested in the various aspects of microelectronics. This issue of ECS Transactions continues the SBMicro tradition of being a premier forum for the presentation of leading edge research on process, devices, sensors and integrated circuit technology.

This issue of ECS Transactions features eight invited and sixty-seven regular papers on technology, devices, systems, optoelectronics, modeling and characterization; all either directly or indirectly related to microelectronics. The topics presented herein reveal the multidisciplinary character of this field, which definitely incites the highly cooperative trace of human nature.

The goal of this NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) entitled “Defects in Advanced High-k Dielectric Nano-electronic Semiconductor Devices”, which was held in St. Petersburg, Russia, from July 11 to 14, 2005, was to examine the very complex scientific issues that pertain to the use of advanced high dielectric constant (high-k) materials in next generation semiconductor devices. The special feature of this workshop was focus on an important issue of defects in this novel class of materials. One of the key obstacles to high-k integration into Si nano-technology are the electronic defects in high-k materials. It has been established that defects do exist in high-k dielectrics and they play an important role in device operation. However, very little is known about the nature of the defects or about possible techniques to eliminate, or at least minimize them. Given the absence of a feasible alternative in the near future, well-focused scientific research and aggressive development programs on high-k gate dielectrics and related devices must continue for semiconductor electronics to remain a competitive income producing force in the global market.