SCIENTIFIC PUBLIC ACTIVITIES

Electronics technology is based on a wide field of knowledge that makes international co-operation necessary for its continuing success in study, development and teaching.

IEEE, IEEE-CPMT and the IEEE-CPMT Hu-Ro Joint Chapter

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is the world's largest technical professional society with more than 375,000 members in 160 countries. Most of the academic members of BME-ETT have joined IEEE, in particular its Component, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology (CPMT) Society. The IEEE-CPMT Society is the leading international forum for scientists and engineers engaged in the research, design and development of revolutionary advances in electronics packaging and manufacturing, which coincides well with the mission and objectives of BME-ETT.

Among the many results, including publications and common research originated from the IEEE and CPMT activities of the Department, the bilateral cooperation with Romanian colleagues, in particular those from the CETTI research centre at the Politehnica University of Bucharest and also from the universities of Cluj-Napoca, Timişoara, Piteşti, Braşov, Sibiu, Iaşi, Baia Mare, Alba Iulia, Galaţi, and others deserve mentioning. This cooperation resulted in the activity of the Hu-Ro Joint CPMT Chapter, including the annual organization of the SIITME symposiums (International Symposium for design and Technology of Electronics Packages), as well as the bilateral research contracts of BME-ETT and UPB-CETTI, presently in the field of "Investigation of RoHS-compliant microelectronic modules based on energy efficient methods".

The Department has also contributed to the initiation and organization of the Electronics System Integration Technology Conference (ESTC), a biannual global event organized by IEEE-CPMT that brings together key researchers, innovators, decision-makers, technologists, businesses and standard bodies working in microelectronic packaging since 2006. ESTC became a premier venue for academics and industry to demonstrate and discuss the latest developments in assembly and interconnection technology as well as new innovative applications.

IMAPS (formerly ISHM) - International Microelectronics and Packaging Society

A very successful form of scientific co-operation by the Department is its activity in IMAPS, an independent, non-profit organization with the aim of the advancement and world-wide spread of knowledge relating to microelectronics and packaging - a key technology in the assembly and application of silicon chip semiconductors, film circuits and printed wiring boards to form practical miniaturized electronic equipment.

The Society has Chapters in USA, Japan and Europe, and its world membership now approaches 10,000. IMAPS-Hungary, a small but strong Chapter, is based on the activity of the academic members of the Department. The Chapter nominated BME-ETT members, dr. Péter Gordon (formerly dr. Zsolt Illyefalvi-Vitéz) as Hungarian representative to the European Liaison Committee (ELC), and dr. Pál Németh (formerly dr. Gábor Harsányi) to the Technical Programme Committee (TPC) of IMAPS. These committees organize international meetings in Europe and promote interchange between various Chapters of the Society.

The biannual EMPC conferences of IMAPS are the most prestigious European microelectronics events; the annual American conferences are even more attractive. Thanks to the scientific activity of the Department, more than fifty papers have been accepted and presented at international IMAPS conferences. Due to the successful activity of IMAPS-Hungary and some other Central European Chapters, NATO committed funding for a series of workshops on Multi-Chip-Modules and Mixed Technologies, and the 1995 workshop held in Budapest, was organized by IMAPS-Hungary with the active participation of members of the Department. The director and main organizer of the workshop was dr. Gábor Harsányi.

International Spring Seminars on Electronics Technology (ISSE)

ISSE - a series of annual seminars and a network of electronics packaging education - was founded by competent departments of the Dresden, Prague and Budapest Universities of Technology in 1977. It was formed to provide a European forum for the exchange of information between senior and junior scientists from academic communities and electronic industries from around the world, on topics related to their experimental and theoretical work in the very wide-spread field of electronics and microelectronics technology and packaging.

Interesting topics at these Seminars included, for example, the problems of reliability, measurement technology, physical measuring methods, application of microprocessors, technology of integrated circuits, surface mounting technology, computer-aided design and manufacturing, thermal design and characterization, total quality control, thick- and thin-film sensors, and the progress in the education of electronics technology.

Over the years, the seminar has moved to different sites in the region and by its 30th anniversary, nine universities have hosted seminars of high technical level in a unique multicultural atmosphere. The advantages of this co-operation are now well proved, and efforts are now being taken to develop this efficiency by joining the Academic Conference network (see the figure) and by the active participation of universities in other European Union countries.

Besides exchanging information about research results in seminar form, the co operation between the university departments has also the following aims:
 

• to survey and study curriculums, training and continuing education systems, the connections between university education and with research and industry in EU countries and its Central/Eastern European partners;
• to discuss the conditions of, and to prepare for, joint European projects in the field of electronics technology education;
• to discuss the development of co-operation in other fields of common interest, e.g. research, bilateral staff and student exchange and training, publications, etc.

It has been a remarkable honour to the Department of Electronics Technology that in 1979, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1996, 2000 and in 2008, the Spring Seminars were hosted in Hungary, the latter in conjunction with the world-wide recognized Academic Conference in Budapest.

Asian connections

In recent years, the Department has established Asian connections. In 2007, dr. Norbert Stubán, then Ph.D. student of the Department, was sent to Japan to work at the Shizuoka University in Hamamatsu for a year. The research scholarship was supported by the Hungarian Suzuki Company and the Suzuki Foundation. In 2009, the Kasetsart University invited dr. Stubán to give a presentation in the field of pulse oximetry, which is one of the main research fields of the Sensors and Microfluidics Laboratory of BME-ETT. The seminar was held in Bangkok, Thailand. Cooperation possibilities and student exchange plans were also proposed for the future. In the same year, Japanese and Korean delegations visited BME-ETT and invited applications for Master and Ph.D. student positions.

Activities in other scientific societies and editorial boards of journals

The members of the Department are active in various other national and international societies. The most prestigious societies where Department staff members have active participation and not listed above are as follows:

NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES:

• Scientific Association for Infocommunications Hungary (HTE)
• Scientific Society for Optics, Acoustics,Motion Pictures and Theatre Technology (OPAKFI)
• Scientific Society for Measurement, Automation and Informatics (MATE),
• Committee of Electron Devices and Technologies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA-EETB)
• National Electronics Society of Hungary (MELT)

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETIES:

• Optical Society of America
• SPIE, The Society of Optical Engineering
• The New York Academy of Sciences
• The World Federation of Hungarian Engineers and Architects

The Department has representatives on the Editorial Boards of the following international scientific journals:

• Microelectronics International
• Sensor Review
• Active and Passive Electronic Components
• Microsystem Technologies
• Microcircuits and Electronic Packaging

From the extensive editorial activities of members of the Department in national technical journals, it is the "Elektronikai Technológia, Mikrotechnika" (Electronics Technology, Microtechnique) which is worthy of emphasis. This journal and its Editor-in-Chief, dr. Endre Tóth, have made a remarkable contribution to the use of clear and correct mother tongue in the publications of Hungarian professionals in the field of electronics technology.