CICC 1999 Conference: Main

Conference Overview

Welcome to CICC '99, the 21st annual Custom Integrated Circuits Conference. We are confident that this year's conference program will entice you to come to San Diego and attend the CICC '99. You will notice some changes in this year's program, mostly to include some of the suggestions that you, the attendees, have passed on to us during last year's conference. Both the social and the technical programs have been extended. Also, the CICC has returned to the Town & Country Hotel/Convention Center in San Diego. The hotel has recently been renovated and now also offers a convenient rail connection with downtown San Diego.

The conference is preceded by 4 parallel educational sessions on Sunday May 16th. Main topics for these educational sessions are analog design concepts, embedded memory, modeling, and system-on-a-chip design.

The technical program starts on Monday, May 17th with a keynote address by Dr. Pallab Chatterjee, Sr. VP at Texas Instruments, who will discuss the changes that the internet era is bringing to system level integration. The technical paper presentations will follow the keynote speaker and take place during the rest of Monday and the next two days in four parallel sessions in the morning and four in the afternoon.

This year, close to 300 technical papers were submitted and our first thanks go out to all the authors that have spent many hours on the preparation of their papers. The authors are the ones that shape the most important part of this conference. The technical program committee had a very difficult task, selecting 137 technical papers (including 17 invited papers) organized into 24 sessions. The technical program has been extended with a technology symposium (sponsored by the VSIA), as well as, a short session on technical project management focused on IC design projects. In addition, seventeen experts offer a tutorial and/or state-of-the-art view on topics ranging from "Device and Circuit Design Issues in SOI Technology" (IBM) to "IP Reuse" (Mentor).

As with previous conferences, an exhibit area is set-up. Apart from daily access to the exhibits, a separate exhibitor preview session is scheduled during the Monday lunch hour. This will allow you to listen to the latest product presentations and announcements from CAD, IP and Silicon Vendors.

Tuesday's luncheon speaker, Peter Osman, from the Cooperative Research Centre for Molecular Engineering and Technology, will take you into the world where electronics and biology meet, giving you some insight into "the what and when" of an industry that might become as visible and exciting as the IC industry is today.

Four panel sessions are scheduled for Tuesday evening. Panel topics are "Analog Behavioral Modeling-Tool or Toy for Design?", "Dealing with Start-ups: Is it Worth the Hassle?", "Not Like Your Father's ASIC Vendor" and "Silicon Vendors are from Venus, System Designers are from Mars". These panels are held with the participation of some renowned industry experts, providing the attendees with a unique opportunity to challenge these experts and start some spirited discussions.

As a special note, I would like to encourage you to provide us with your feedback. We do take your feedback very seriously and you will find that your suggestions, when practical and shared by other attendees, will find their way into next year's program. Your feedback is at the origin of both minor changes (such as acceptance of credit cards as part of the pre-registration) and major changes (changing the conference site, adding a project management track, extending the social program).