The papers included in this issue of ECS Transactions were originally presented in the symposium ¿Electrochemical Processing in ULSI and MEMS 4¿, held during the 215th meeting of The Electrochemical Society, in San Francisco, CA from May 24 to 29, 2009.

The papers in this issue describe the latest advances in fundamental and practical aspects of electrochemical processes for fabrication of microelectronic devices and related structures. Topics range from plating to etching, chips to packages, mechanisms to models, through-silicon vias to nanotubes, tin to ruthenium, capping to cooling, porous gold to porous alumina, probe-card springs to solder balls, electroless deposition to CMP, TFT-LCDs to magnetic nanowires and beyond.

"Held May 2000 in Toronto, Canada, as part of the 197th meeting of the Electrochemical Society."--Pref.

This issue of ECS Transactions brings together the work of electrochemists, physicists, engineers, and device designers working in the area of magnetic thin-film technology. Topics include electrochemical and electroless plating systems, etching, process chemistry, tool design, process control, film nucleation and growth, structure of deposits, stress, physics and micromagnetics of films, thermal and magnetic annealing. Applications include the fabrication of data recording systems, sensors, microelectrochemical systems (MEMS) and other magnetic devices.

The definitive resource for electroplating, now completely up to date With advances in information-age technologies, the field of electroplating has seen dramatic growth in the decade since the previous edition of Modern Electroplating was published. This expanded new edition addresses these developments, providing a comprehensive, one-stop reference to the latest methods and applications of electroplating of metals, alloys, semiconductors, and conductive polymers. With special emphasis on electroplating and electrochemical plating in nanotechnologies, data storage, and medical applications, the Fifth Edition boasts vast amounts of new and revised material, unmatched in breadth and depth by any other book on the subject. It includes: Easily accessible, self-contained contributions by over thirty experts Five completely new chapters and hundreds of additional pages A cutting-edge look at applications in nanoelectronics Coverage of the formation of nanoclusters and quantum dots using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) An important discussion of the physical properties of metal thin films Chapters devoted to methods, tools, control, and environmental issues And much more A must-have for anyone in electroplating, including technicians, platers, plating researchers, and metal finishers, Modern Electroplating, Fifth Edition is also an excellent reference for electrical engineers and researchers in the automotive, data storage, and medical industries.

In Advanced ULSI interconnects – fundamentals and applications we bring a comprehensive description of copper-based interconnect technology for ultra-lar- scale integration (ULSI) technology for integrated circuit (IC) application. In- grated circuit technology is the base for all modern electronics systems. You can ?nd electronics systems today everywhere: from toys and home appliances to a- planes and space shuttles. Electronics systems form the hardware that together with software are the bases of the modern information society. The rapid growth and vast exploitation of modern electronics system create a strong demand for new and improved electronic circuits as demonstrated by the amazing progress in the ?eld of ULSI technology. This progress is well described by the famous “Moore’s law” which states, in its most general form, that all the metrics that describe integrated circuit performance (e. g. , speed, number of devices, chip area) improve expon- tially as a function of time. For example, the number of components per chip d- bles every 18 months and the critical dimension on a chip has shrunk by 50% every 2 years on average in the last 30 years. This rapid growth in integrated circuits te- nology results in highly complex integrated circuits with an increasing number of interconnects on chips and between the chip and its package. The complexity of the interconnect network on chips involves an increasing number of metal lines per interconnect level, more interconnect levels, and at the same time a reduction in the interconnect line critical dimensions.

The papers included in this issue of ECS Transactions were originally presented in the symposium ¿Fundamentals of Electrochemical Growth: From UPD to Microstructures ¿ Symposium in Memory of Prof. Evgeni Budevski¿, held during the 216th meeting of The Electrochemical Society, in Vienna, Austria from October 4 to 9, 2009.

A comprehensive guide to MEMS materials, technologies and manufacturing, examining the state of the art with a particular emphasis on current and future applications. Key topics covered include: - Silicon as MEMS material - Material properties and measurement techniques - Analytical methods used in materials characterization - Modeling in MEMS - Measuring MEMS - Micromachining technologies in MEMS - Encapsulation of MEMS components - Emerging process technologies, including ALD and porous silicon Written by 73 world class MEMS contributors from around the globe, this volume covers materials selection as well as the most important process steps in bulk micromachining, fulfilling the needs of device design engineers and process or development engineers working in manufacturing processes. It also provides a comprehensive reference for the industrial R&D and academic communities. - Veikko Lindroos is Professor of Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science at Helsinki University of Technology, Finland. - Markku Tilli is Senior Vice President of Research at Okmetic, Vantaa, Finland. - Ari Lehto is Professor of Silicon Technology at Helsinki University of Technology, Finland. - Teruaki Motooka is Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Kyushu University, Japan. - Provides vital packaging technologies and process knowledge for silicon direct bonding, anodic bonding, glass frit bonding, and related techniques - Shows how to protect devices from the environment and decrease package size for dramatic reduction of packaging costs - Discusses properties, preparation, and growth of silicon crystals and wafers - Explains the many properties (mechanical, electrostatic, optical, etc), manufacturing, processing, measuring (incl. focused beam techniques), and multiscale modeling methods of MEMS structures