The first day of the 75th edition of the ECTC (Electronic Components and Technology Conference), held in Dallas, Texas, was marked by special sessions addressing crucial topics for the future of microelectronics.
In the Special Session titled “Quantum Photonic Advanced Packaging,” moderated by Dr. Daryl Inniss (LightCounting), the technical challenges of packaging quantum systems were discussed. Presentations by Dr. Amir Hamed Majedi and Dr. Thomas Jennewein (University of Waterloo) provided a promising outlook on secure quantum communications.
The Special Session “Advanced Materials for Enabling Co-Packaged Optics Integration,” led by Dr. Nicola Sani (Cisco) and Dr. Rajesh Kumar (Broadcom), focused on materials and processes for integrating optics and electronics on the same substrate — essential for reducing energy consumption in data centers and boosting computational performance.
The Special Session “Advancements in mmWave and Sub-THz Packaging for Communication and Radar Applications” featured experts such as Jonathan Hacker (Teledyne Scientific), Augusto Gutierrez-Aitken (Northrop Grumman Space Systems), Hasan Sharifi (HRL Laboratories), Madhavan Swaminathan (Pennsylvania State University), Shahriar Shahramian (Nokia Bell Labs), and Alberto Valdes-Garcia (IBM Research). This session explored packaging solutions for ultra-high frequencies, critical for the 6G revolution and automotive sensors for next-generation equipment.
Thus, ECTC 2025 kicked off with a day filled with knowledge and innovation sharing, shaping the future of microelectronics, communications technologies, photonics, and packaging.
The Microelectronics Agenda is present with its own booth, promoting the national ecosystem and showcasing the best of what is being done in Portugal in the field of technological innovation.
The Microelectronics Agenda benefits from an eligible total budget of €67,493,749.21, of which €30,048,411.91 is funded by the NextGenerationEU initiative. With the project completion scheduled for June 30, 2025, Portugal aims to establish itself as a leader in the global semiconductor sector, having already executed more than 60% of the budget and made significant progress in product development, sustainability, and workforce training.
