Inexorable technical and market forces are radically restructuring the nature of microelectronics devices and
the systems built from them. The technical forces include:
(i) the ability to place “super computer level”
processing power and memory along with integrated sensors, actuators, and communications interfaces on a single
chip, and
(ii) programmability and restructurability that enables real-time reconfiguration of the system on a
chip.
The market forces include both the reduction in potential hardware gross margins because of to global
supply and the simultaneous dramatic increase in the cost of masks, tools, and facilities for fabrication in the
sub-100-nm realm. Time and resource constraints and the proliferation of implementation technologies for systems,
including programmable system-on-a-chip (PSoC), MEMS, and wireless sensor networks, have led to the rapid
restructuring of the commodity semiconductor industry and the birth of the microelectronics systems industry.
This migration in turn has led to a change in the relationship between designers of chips, fabricators of chips,
and the designer of systems based on the chips. To deal with this new era, a new integrated systems-based design
process is now needed. In turn, there is a need for a new educational curriculum to adequately prepare the future
designers for everything from the simplest disposable high-volume consumer product to the most sophisticated space
or security system.
This Call For Conference Papers for the Special Issue for MICROELECTRONIC SYSTEMS EDUCATION (MSE) is focused on addressing
the status of the microelectronics engineering curriculum in the light of the above developments. Consideration
for the Special Issue will be based exclusively on two-page papers published and presented this year
at the 2007
IEEE International Conference on Microelectronic Systems Education, San Diego, June 3-4, 2007. Authors
of top papers will be invited to submit an expanded manuscript for consideration in this Special Issue.
MSE authors who are invited to contribute to this Special Issue should refer to the website of the
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION (TOE) at
http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/es/ToE-manuscript.html for information
relative to the scope of Transactions and manuscript preparation. Submitted manuscripts must contain a
balance of technical content and pedagogical content to be considered for this Special Issue and must
contain the following five components:
- curriculum content within system engineering with emphasis on electrical engineering, computer engineering, or allied disciplines,
- a description of the course or course sequence in which the content is presented,
- a description of the pedagogical issue(s) being addressed in microelectronic systems courses and/or laboratories,
- information that will assist educators in the discipline in implementing the presented concepts, and
- meaningful, statistically sound assessment data that provides information relative to the strengths and weaknesses of the microelectronic systems program.
Invited manuscripts are to be submitted electronically to
Manuscript Central by June 30, 2007.
For further information, contact the Special Issue Editor, Tina Hudson
(tina.hudson@rose-hulman.edu).
The timeline for this special issue is as follows.
- Two Page MSE Conference Manuscript Submission Deadline: 15 January 2007
- Notification of Review Evaluation, MSE Acceptance, Potential TOE Acceptance: 15 April 2007
- Presentation at MSE Conference, 3-4 June 2007
- TOE Manuscript Submission Deadline: 30 June 2007
- Notification of TOE Acceptance: 1 October 2007
- Accepted Manuscripts Due for Editorial Review: 15 November 2007
- Manuscript Packet Information Sent to Author: 31 December 2007
- Manuscript Packet Due from Author to Editor: 15 February 2008
- Tentative Publication Date: May 2008
document date: 21 September 2006
