Jon E. Klema
General Chair

GENERAL CHAIR'S GREETING

Welcome to the 38th annual International Reliability Physics Symposium. The Management and Technical Program committees have prepared three full days of technical offerings and social activities. Come to hone your knowledge and keep up to date on the latest breaking developments.

The activities begin on Monday with tutorials during the day and Workshops in the evening. Tutorials are taught by recognized experts in the field and cover a wide range of topics from fundamental failure mechanisms and failure analysis methods to copper interconnects and low K dielectrics. These subjects are aimed at differing experience levels and offer an opportunity to improve your depth of knowledge in your specific field or to broaden your understanding of related subjects. You choose the options to best suit your needs.

The evening Workshops provide an opportunity to follow up on the morning's topics where users, manufacturers, and academia share ideas in an open and informal setting. This is your chance to speak your mind, to ask some tough questions and to listen to what others find important. The technical sessions of the symposium begin Tuesday morning and run through Thursday afternoon. This is the heart of the symposium - people who are actively involved in the field of reliability share their experiences of the latest developments in materials, methods and technology. See the Technical Program heading of this brochure for more details.

The Equipment Demonstration Program begins Monday at noon and runs through Thursday noon. The demos are a chance for symposium participants to see first hand what the hardware and software suppliers have available to help you improve your organization's product through improvements in measurement and analysis.

Scheduled social events include a Tuesday evening reception and the Wednesday evening awards banquet. You'll find more details under the Arrangements heading in this brochure.

San Jose, the heart of Silicon Valley and the beautiful Fairmont Hotel offer much to enhance your enjoyment. See the Arrangements section for further details on Companions Programs and local attractions.

I am looking forward to seeing you this April in San Jose. Come early to take advantage of the tutorials and stay through Thursday for the fine technical sessions the contributors have prepared.

Jon E. Klema

General Chair