Nearly 100 engineers and researchers from all over the world attended EMC Compo 04, the fourth edition of the International Workshop on Electromagnetic Compatibility of Integrated Circuits, organized from March 31 to April 2 in Angers, one of the most beautiful cities in France.
The first three editions had taken place in Toulouse, France, in 1999, 2000 and 2002, respectively, and had been initiated and organized by Professor Etienne Sicard of INSA Toulouse. The small, national workshop quickly became an internationally recognized event, which gathered the most renowned specialists in this particular field of electromagnetic compatibility.
Dr. Mohamed Ramdani and Dr. Richard Perdriau, both Associate Professors at ESEO, Angers, organized the 2004 edition. The French Section of the IEEE supported the event.
During three days, specialists from 15 countries (from USA to Japan and South Korea) participated in a plenary session with 2 keynote addresses, 23 oral presentations, 15 posters, 3 tutorials and an exhibition. Moreover, we had the very pleasant surprise to welcome not one, but two IEEE EMC Society Presidents among the participants: Todd Hubing and Kimball Williams. Not bad for such a niche topic!
The workshop took place at ESEO, an engineering school located in downtown Angers, only about one kilometer from the most interesting places to visit. And Angers had much to offer our visitors!
The 200,000-people capital of the historic province of Anjou, located about 300 km from the southwest of Paris, in the Loire Valley (recently recognized by the UNESCO as a World Heritage for Humanity), is considered as one of the most beautiful cities in France with its old streets, museums, gardens, gastronomic restaurants, and art festivals. Its many noteworthy monuments include the magnificent, spiraled Saint-Maurice Cathedral (12th-13th century) and the massive Château d’Angers (early 13th century), with its moat and soaring towers, which define the western border of the Châteaux de la Loire. Nowadays, the Château d’Angers houses a tapestry museum that contains the famous 140-meter long Apocalypse series. Some of the greatest figures in the history of France encountered the magic of Angers: the Plantagenêts, King René, the writer François Rabelais, the poet Joachim du Bellay, as well as the composer Clément Janequin, and the surgeon Ambroise Paré. The “Art of Living” expression might have been invented especially for Angers as its gastronomic pleasures, worldwide-renowned liquors (Cointreau), and great wines (though unfairly unrecognized) blend with street entertainment and festivals into a refreshing cocktail.

Mohamed Ramdani, EMC Compo 04 Chairman, introduced the general schedule of the workshop, after a brief address by Jacky Charruault, Director of ESEO (standing left).

From left to right : Richard Perdriau (ESEO, France) received the Best Conference Paper Award, Yves Quéré (LEST, France), Adam Tankielun (University of Paderborn, Germany) and Bertrand Vrignon (STMicroelectronics, France) the three Best Student Paper Awards, given by Kimball Williams and Mohamed Ramdani.

The magnificent Château de Brissac, location of the evening banquet on Wednesday.

More than 100 people took part in the evening banquet, organized in the “Galerie des Tableaux” (Gallery of Paintings) of the Château de Brissac, after a welcome cocktail and a private visit (including the remarkable Theatre).

From left to right, Christian Marot (Siemens VDO, France), Thomas Steinecke (Infineon, Germany), Etienne Sicard (INSA Toulouse, France) and Jean-Luc Levant exchanged their points of view on the ICEM model.

Technical Program
Dr. Mohamed Ramdani, Chairman, opened the plenary session on Wednesday by introducing the first keynote speaker. Michel Mardiguian, a world-renowned EMC expert and past Distinguished Lecturer for the EMC Society, brilliantly accomplished the difficult task of starting the workshop with a general introduction entitled “EMC at IC Level: a Most Audacious Challenge.” Two oral sessions then followed, dealing respectively with packaging and tools, and emission models.
The poster session was then organized just after lunch, which was indeed welcome: the authors had the opportunity to present their work in a very relaxed environment, with coffee and local specialties (“Quernons d’Ardoise”, delightful chocolate-coated nougats!) available all session long. Oral sessions then resumed on crosstalk and signal integrity, and emission measurements.
On Thursday, for those who had recovered from the banquet the night before, after a short address by Jacky Charruault, Director of ESEO, Dr. Todd H. Hubing, immediate Past President of the IEEE EMC Society, gave a remarkable keynote lecture about “Radiated Emissions from ICs: Models and Measurements.” The program then continued as on the previous day, with two sessions on near-field measurements and emission models, then another after-lunch poster session, and finally another oral session dealing with immunity.
During the poster sessions, exhibitors also had the opportunity to present hardware and software dedicated to EMC of integrated circuits: vector network analyzers, time-domain reflectometers, finite-element modeling and signal integrity simulation software.
The entire audience then determined four best papers, after a very close ballot.
Three Best Student Papers, sponsored by the French Section of the IEEE, were awarded to (in alphabetical order):

Courageous people who had enjoyed the evening wine tasting gathered then on Friday for the last morning dedicated to tutorials. Kimball Williams of Underwriters Laboratories Inc., and President of the IEEE EMC Society, started with an acclaimed, very didactic presentation on “Test Planning for EMC Customers,” followed by Martin Wiles, ETS-Lindgren, on “GTEM Testing Methodologies for ICs.” Richard Perdriau, ESEO, presented the last tutorial written by Olivier Maurice, Valeo, France, on “A Brief History of IC Immunity.”
The quality of all presented papers (keynotes, oral papers, posters, tutorials) was indeed very high and covered every aspect of EMC in integrated circuits. The Scientific Committee is thus grateful to their authors for their involvement and their remarkable contributions.

From left to right : Thomas Steinecke, Michael Schmidt (Fraunhofer IZM, Germany), EMC Compo 05 organizers, with Etienne Sicard, EMC Compo initiator and organizer of the first three editions.

Todd H. Hubing (University of Missouri, Rolla, USA), Past President of the IEEE EMC Society, gave the second keynote lecture: “Radiated Emissions from Integrated Circuits: Models and Measurements.”

Michel Mardiguian, EMC Expert (France), accomplished the difficult task of starting the workshop with the first keynote lecture entitled “EMC at IC Level: a Most Audacious Challenge.”

Social Activities
Even if scientific content is the main contribution to the quality of an international workshop, EMC specialists fortunately know how to have fun too! Therefore, a wonderful social program was designed for them, fitting within the very short duration of the event.
The evening banquet on Wednesday took place in the magnificent Château de Brissac, the tallest castle in France (even if it is far less known than Chambord!). After a welcome cocktail with a delicate piano accompaniment, the Marquis of Brissac (it is still a family castle!) took the audience for a private visit, including a royal bedroom and a remarkable theatre. People then gathered in the Galerie des Tableaux (Gallery of Paintings) for a typically French gastronomic dinner, with the romantic notes of a piano-flute duet in background.
Visitors from abroad were also invited to a copious cocktail and wine tasting on Thursday evening, in which they were given the opportunity to discover Savennières (dry, white), Saumur Champigny (red) and Coteaux du Layon Chaume (sweet, white), three of the best vintages of the Loire Valley.
“Traditional” lunches allowed the participants to discover other typical French dishes (blanquette de veau, duck steaklet …) in a very friendly atmosphere. We can assure you that no one went back home with an empty stomach!

An overview of the attendance (about 100 people).

More than 30 participants from all over the world enjoyed the wine-tasting organized on Thursday evening.

Summary and Next Edition
The EMC Compo 04 workshop took its success from the high scientific quality of the presentations and expertise of the attendees, as well as from the wonderful social program. The relatively small size of the workshop was indeed an advantage; everyone could attend all presentations and be presented with a very complete overview of the most recent research in the area of EMC in integrated circuits. Furthermore, it was granted the participation of prestigious specialists, which helped it to find its own way among international EMC conferences.
We would like to thank all members of the ESEO team who helped us with the organization of the event (especially our assistant, Aude Gérard), as well as our institutional sponsors (Angers Agglomération, Conseil Général de Maine-et-Loire, Conseil Régional des Pays-de-Loire, IEEE Section France), and industrial sponsors (ATMEL Nantes, EADS-CCR, ETS-Lindgren). And of course, grateful thanks to all EMC Compo 04 participants for their kindness and their remarkable contributions!
The international character of the workshop will be reinforced on the next edition, which will be organized for the first time outside France, in Munich, Germany, by Dr. Thomas Steinecke (Infineon) and his team, probably from November 28th to November 30th, 2005. We shall be happy to meet you there! EMC

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