It’s that time of year again – time to be back in San Jose for the 33rd annual SPIE Advanced Lithography Symposium. Looking back, I realize that this is the 25th consecutive Advanced Lithography (formerly Microlithography) Symposium that I have been to. That’s a lot of years! The conference has sure changed since those early days, most spectacularly in the growth of papers and attendees. In that sense, this year’s conference is harking back to a bygone era – attendance is expected to be down more than 50% from last year (due mostly to company travel restrictions). I suppose, though, that it is not fair to make such a comparison, since the number of papers is down only slightly from last year (barring an unexpected jump in the number of cancelations). It will still be impossible to see every presentation and poster that I would like!

The earliest indicator of a slow year came today, Sunday, during the short courses. Five courses were canceled and the rest had very low attendance numbers – my course drew 11 students, down from my average of 20 – 30. Still, it was a good group of students and teaching my “world according to NILS” class was fun as always.

The outlook for our industry is bleak, and yet I’m selfishly excited about this year’s symposium. I’ve been working on a fundamental understanding of line edge roughness, creating a complete stochastic model for lithography. I’ve made a lot of progress lately and I’m really looking forward to my two poster papers Monday night – some of my best work ever, I think. Let the conference begin!