One of EIA's newest Divisions, the Industrial Electronics Group's Multichip
Module (MCM) Division, was founded in the fall of 1992 with the primary goal of
"creating a stable infrastructure of domestic multichip module suppliers". It
took a big step toward that goal in 1993 by facilitating The MCM Consortium, an
industry team selected to receive significant matching funds ($40 million - 50%
from government/ 50% from industry - over two years) through the Clinton
Administration's Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP). Beginning with a
February EIA/SEMI (i.e. Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International)
MCM Workshop held to stimulate the dialogue between the MCM foundries and the
equipment supplier community, the MCM Division sponsored a number of meetings
designed to allow industry representatives to network with one another and with
program managers from the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). These
sessions resulted in numerous industry alliances, including three in which the
EIA was asked to play the role of facilitator.

While two efforts were under consideration for funding (an MCM-C initiative and
another proposing to integrate government and industry MCM quality and
reliability activities utilizing ANSI/EIA Standard 599), the abovementioned MCM
Consortium has solidified their business plan and finalized their negotiations
with ARPA. The coalition, dedicated to specifying, developing and integrating a
pilot production line for large format manufacturing of high performance MCMs,
include GM Hughes, Motorola, Texas Instruments, MicroModule Systems, nChip,
Sandia National Laboratories and SEMI. Its selection as an award winner
affirmed the decision of staff and industry to dedicate such a substantial
amount of time and energy to the proposal process during the year. The
experience also leaves the division prepared to assist any interested group of
member firms in forming a consortium in response to the TRP, NIST's Advanced
Technology Program (ATP), or any other funding opportunity or business
challenge that comes along. In recognition of this, a number of organizations
in the microwave/millimeter-wave arena have been working with staff to continue
ARPA funding of MAFET (Microwave and Analog Front-End Technology).

The MCM Division's twenty-plus member organizations - including manufacturing
companies, universities and consultants - looks forward to expanding the scope
of its activities in '96.

The membership is committed to: performing a statistical assessment of the
current state of the MCM industry; creating a technological roadmap for the MCM
industry as it moves forward; developing MCM performance , interfacing, and
reliability standards in conjunction with the proper bodies (e.g. JEDEC);
encouraging increased dialogue between the MCM foundries and the potential user
community; increasing interaction with other appropriate trade groups -
particularly those representing the semiconductor industry; supplying more
significant support to the International Conference and Exhibition on Multichip
Modules - based on EIA's joining ISHM and IEPS as a sponsoring organization;
and producing a directory of and a newsletter for universities involved in the
research and development of MCMs. With so many identified goals, '94 is sure to
be another whirlwind year for the MCM Division. As multichip module technology
has been identified as a critical technology by industry and government, EIA is
pleased to have a prominent role in fostering the development of the
infrastructure which will make it a viable technology as well.

Please contact me if you have any questions.
-       Simon Patrick Carr
        Staff Director
        Electronic Industries Association
        [email protected]
        (703)907-7538
    Fax (703)907-7549