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Session 17 - Can One Process Do It All?
8:00pm
Moderator: Kris Iniewski, PMC-Sierra
Panelists:
Bill Cochran, Director of Technology Development Sys.,
Lucent, Agere
Saverio D'Agostino, Principal Electronic Packaging Engineer, Jet
Propulsion Labs
Paul Kempf, Executive Director of Device Technology, Conexant Sys.
Bill Stanchina, Manager, HRL Labs
Seshadri Subbana Sr Engineering Manager, IBM. Microelectronics
Sorin Voinigescu, Chief Technical Officer, Quake Technologies
Dr. John Martin, Chief Technology Officer, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing
Increased costs of advanced manufacturing force many
companies to standardize on CMOS technology. Many
built-in features like triple well, dual oxide, copper
interconnect and on wafer flip chip bumping are used to
accommodate varied product requirements. At the same
time as CMOS flourishes, SiGe, SOI, BiCMOS and InP
processes are attacking it on all fronts. This panel
brings together representatives from semiconductor
foundries, integrated device manufacturers and design
companies to elaborate on different points of view on
this CMOS vs. the rest debate.
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Session 18 - Stock Options: Are They a Management Nightmare and an
Employee Nirvana or is it the Other Way Around?
8:00pm
Moderator: Rakesh Kumar, Consultant
Panelists:
Raul Camposano, Sr. Vice President and CTO, Synopsys Inc.
Brian Fitzgerald, CEO, ChipWrights Inc.
Gary Foster, Intrinsix Inc.
Jeffery Grammer, Techfarm
Stock options have long been a method of recruiting top
engineering talent to small start-up and small privately
held companies. The allure of a potential big pay out
upon an acquisition or IPO is a strong force in
attracting and keeping key talent.
However, they have their dark side.
Many times the options turn out to be worthless and
sometimes actually become a financial liability. Large
companies that offer options, most times cannot offer
the perceived financial upside that a start-up can
offer. They may loose key people to smaller companies
just due to the options. On the academic side,
universities have no way to compete for key talent at
all against stock options. Basic industry research goes
undone.
Then how about those options? Are they ISOs, NQs,
restricted stock, phantom stock, sleeves out of
somebody's vest, etc.? How much are they really worth
anyway and what is the percentage ownership should an
engineer expect? And how about that little nasty 'D'
word (dilution)?
Should the management just stop offering options, and
offer a simpler and more straightforward compensation
package instead? Wouldn't that be better and fairer to
our industry? Why do engineers let management 'fool
them so' with options? Why do engineers want them so
badly? Have they really paid off for them as a
profession, or have they made engineers work long hours
at reduced pay for small companies that mostly go under
anyway?
What's the opinion of the panel members? What's your
opinion?
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