SMC 2027—Strategic Materials Conference

An international technical conference on solutions for improving semiconductor manufacturing. Technical presentations highlight industry innovations with specific results, and papers presented at the conference are peer-reviewed by the ASMC Technical Committee; select manuscripts are published in the IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing special section. The 2027 call for abstracts covers Advanced Equipment Processes and Materials; Advanced Metrology; Advanced Process Control; Defect Free Manufacturing; Defect Inspection and Reduction; Big Data Management and Cybersecurity; Equipment Optimization; Manufacturing for Sustainability; Novel Device Technologies; Patterning, Design & Technology Optimization; and Smart Manufacturing & Factory Operations.

The conference theme is “Beyond the $1T Milestone: Building the Next Chapter of Semiconductor Growth.” Topics include semiconductor demand, AI, memory, advanced packaging, quantum technologies, manufacturing capacity, supply chain resilience, and ecosystem partnerships. Program sessions address macroeconomic outlook and geopolitics; memory and AI semiconductor demand; non-AI semiconductor, equipment, and materials forecasts; advanced packaging; quantum computing; robotics; co-packaged optics; and inference AI. Further sessions examine global fab capacity, whether semiconductor capacity can keep pace with demand, and what it will take to sustain the next era of growth. A Bulls & Bears panel focuses on U.S. semiconductor and semiconductor capital-equipment investment.

A multidisciplinary materials research program covering electronics, optics and photonics; energy and sustainability; manufacturing; materials theory, computation and data science; nanomaterials; quantum materials, heterostructures and devices; soft materials and biomaterials; and structural and functional materials. Critical-minerals topics include advanced characterization, AI/ML and materials for enhanced critical minerals recovery and separation, and materials innovation for ultra-pure critical minerals from fundamental science to industrial scaling. Energy symposia address data-driven processing for scalable energy-storage materials manufacturing, earth-abundant active materials for Li-ion batteries, lithium-based battery characterization and computation, critical-material-free chemistries beyond Li-ion, solid-state battery interfaces and processing, solar-energy materials, space photovoltaics, and advanced nuclear fuel and cladding. Manufacturing topics include multiscale additive manufacturing, from nano-architected materials to macroscale structures; sustainable electronics; and processing and manufacturing pathways for emerging electrochemical energy storage. Other subjects include in situ and operando electron and X-ray microscopy, 4D-STEM and AI-enabled imaging; AI-ready materials research platforms; quantum sensing and superconducting materials; soft electronics, biohybrid materials and biosensing.

The event brings together the ACerS Annual Meeting, AIST Steel Properties & Applications, the TMS Fall Meeting, and the Advanced Materials Show. Planned technical symposia cover additive manufacturing, including modeling, AI and machine learning, process control, ceramic 3D printing, and qualification and certification of computational materials tools. Other materials topics include ceramics, glass, electronic and nanostructured materials, advanced alloys, and high-temperature phase transformations. Steel and ferrous-metallurgy programming addresses alloy design, steel processing and coatings, medium- and high-manganese steels, decarbonization, scrap recyclability, and materials for transportation, defense, energy, hydrogen, carbon capture, geothermal, and nuclear applications. Energy-focused symposia cover clean hydrogen, electrochemical storage and conversion, thermal management, and alternative-energy devices, including solid-state batteries, electrolyzers, fuel cells, and thermoelectric systems. Additional planned topics include corrosion and degradation in extreme environments, nuclear materials and waste-storage forms, and materials for advanced manufacturing. The co-located Advanced Materials Show focuses on high-performing materials technology and the materials manufacturing supply chain.

ASME’s Manufacturing Engineering Division sponsors MSEC as a forum for advanced manufacturing research, with technical presentations, poster sessions, panels, workshops, and an early-career forum. It is co-located with NAMRI/SME’s 55th North American Manufacturing Research Conference and JSME’s International Conference on Leading Edge Manufacturing/Materials & Processing. Technical tracks include additive manufacturing (including smart, solid-state, metal and hybrid processes, multi-material processing, and sensor fusion); advanced materials manufacturing and semiconductor packaging; biomanufacturing; circular manufacturing and critical-material supply chains; manufacturing equipment, robotics, and automation; manufacturing processes and systems; in-space manufacturing; energy technologies; microelectronics metrology; and quality and reliability. Research themes include in-situ monitoring and control, digital twins, AI and machine learning, process qualification, and energy and material efficiency.

The technical symposia span ceramic and glass science, engineering, processing, and applications. Topics include ceramic interfaces and grain boundaries; oxide quantum materials; superconductivity, magnetism, and correlated phases; functional ceramics; extreme-environment and microelectronics materials; two-dimensional materials; high-entropy materials; bioceramics; glass surfaces and the glassy state; and computational modeling, data science, and AI/ML for materials discovery and manufacturing. Energy-related subjects include materials for energy storage and conversion, nuclear energy applications, protonic ceramic cells, and materials for a sustainable and resilient energy future. Manufacturing topics include advanced ceramic processing, additive manufacturing, glass manufacturing scale-up, and intelligent manufacturing. The additive-manufacturing symposium covers feedstock design, printing and post-processing, modeling, characterization, process-structure-property relationships, qualification, certification, scale-up, cost, reliability, and industrial implementation. The raw-materials symposium addresses material quality and variability, alternative and recycled feedstocks, sustainable sourcing, circularity, supply-chain resilience, resource security, and decarbonization.

The meeting spans materials science research in quantum materials, energy and sustainability, semiconductors, nanomaterials, soft materials and biomaterials, and structural and functional materials. Symposia address sustainable materials chemistry and processing for lithium and earth-abundant batteries; sodium-ion storage; materials, characterization and manufacturing for solid-state batteries; next-generation EV battery materials; hydrogen storage and transmission; and electrochemical conversion of CO₂ and nitrogen compounds into sustainable products. Other topics include AI-driven materials design and autonomous science, chiplet architectures, 2D materials for microelectronics and neuromorphic computing, additive manufacturing across length scales, high-entropy materials, and resilient materials for fission and fusion reactors. Featured programming includes a plenary on critical elements from urban mines and decarbonization of the metal sectors, a keynote on progress and challenges toward an inertial fusion energy future, and sessions on bioelectronics translation and silicon photonics, optical connectivity, sensing, data centers and commercialization.

The program combines technical and management sessions, exhibits, and presentations for foundry professionals, suppliers, casting designers, buyers, and OEM representatives. Topics include additive manufacturing, casting design and purchasing, engineering, environmental health and safety, ferrous and nonferrous alloys, Industry 4.0, marketing and sales, melting, molding, pouring, quality control, workforce development, and casting case studies, reshoring, material selection, and casting quality. The program also includes the Hoyt Memorial Lecture on integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) and artificial intelligence for sustainable metalcasting. Its themes include alloy design, process innovation, digital manufacturing, workforce development, and using physics-based ICME with AI and machine learning to improve casting development, manufacturing processes, and prediction of microstructure, defects, and mechanical properties.

SPCC combines technical sessions, poster presentations, and business-focused programming on surface preparation, cleaning technologies, and wet processes for semiconductor manufacturing. Technical topics include front-end, back-end, and packaging; cleaning equipment, materials, and metrology; advanced-memory challenges such as pattern collapse, contaminant removal from high-aspect-ratio structures, selective etching, and surface preparation for DRAM, 3D-NAND, and emerging memories; and wet and dry cleaning for FinFET, gate-all-around, nanosheet, nanowire, and CFET devices. Other areas include post-etch and post-CMP cleaning, advanced interconnect and EUV mask cleaning, contamination control, high-purity water and chemical delivery, in-situ monitoring, process control and AI/machine learning, trace-particle and metal detection, and sustainability. The scope also includes surface preparation for Ge, III-V, GaN, SiC, and 2D systems, as well as photovoltaics, MEMS, and nanoelectronics. Business-focused programming addresses macroeconomic, market, and structural trends shaping the global semiconductor industry, including industry dynamics, supply chain, and strategic outlook.