RF & Wireless Packaging

Your Society RF & Wireless TC-16 held a planning session on Sunday night, May 21, upstairs from the flashing lights and dinging bells of Ceasar's Palace Casino. Chair, Craig Gaw of Motorola, introduced Prof. Manos Tentzeris of Georgia Institute of Technology as the Vice Chair of the Committee.
Accomplishments
In its first year this TC has many accomplishments. A short course "RF/ Wireless Packaging: Status and Challenges" was a popular short course given the Sunday before the ECTC2000 technical sessions. Professors Joy Lasker and Manos Tentzeris of Georgia Tech were the instructors. In addition, TC-16 members had assisted the ECTC program selection committee to come up with several sessions with interesting RF papers.
Ongoing Actions
The TC continues to establish a list of conference that could be enhanced with more TC assistance. In addition volunteers for the Distinguished Lecturer list are needed. To help match volunteers with tasks an "expertise" list was initiated. In addition, an RF Packaging article review list was established to expedite CPMT Tansaction submittals.
Plans
Matt Schwiebert will be the focal point for a special "Wireless MEMs Component" symposia in conjunction with ECTC2001. Tentative plans call for a few invited tutorial overview presentations and some encouragement to researchers in the many different RF MEMs component areas to submit abstracts. Please contact Matt at email: matt_schwiebert@agilent.com.
Manos Tentzeris is planning a one day workshop on Wireless handset system packaging/component analysis. The trend in technology, assembly/integration, RF Compoents such as PAs and antennas, and the impact of RF MEMs are all under consideration. A decision will be made whether to hold this workshop in parallel with an existing CPMT conference/workshop or to find a separate time on the CPMT calendar. Imput and participation can be directed to etentze@ece.gatech.edu. In particular, if a local CPMT chapter with regional wireless activity would like to partner on this project, TC-16 is open for discussion.
-- editor