IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society TAB Society Review  November 1998

Introduction The Solid-State Circuits Society is the IEEE's newest society.  It officially started on 1/1/97, having evolved from the Solid-State Circuits Council.  The Council was formed 8/25/70, although the major activities taken over by the Council preceded that date; the first International Solid-State Circuits Conference was held in 1954, and  the Journal of Solid-State Circuits (JSSC) started in 1966.  The Council was originally formed  from the Circuit Theory Group because its founding members felt the need for an entity which dealt with the practical aspects of design and application of transistor circuits (which then led to LSI, VLSI, and beyond).  This emphasis on the practical aspects of circuits and chip design has remained the focus of the Council/Society to the present.  The final seven member societies of the Council were CAS, CS, COMS, CPMT, EDS, LEOS and MTTS.

Summary

Greatest successes:

•  Meetings - ISSCC is the best circuits conference in the world, and VLSI Circuits and CICC are the nest best.
• The Journal of Solid-State Circuits - clearly head and shoulders above any other technical publication in the field.  The average delay from receipt to publication is outstanding.
•  The increase in membership - reversed declining interest, and up almost 4500 (almost 60%) from the low point in 1996.
•  Finances - the Society has excellent reserves and good control of its budget.
•  Globalization:  strong world-wide participation through membership, authorship of papers in the publications and meetings, and elected members of AdCom.

Biggest opportunities:

• Membership - there is still a large part of the solid-state circuits community that we do not reach.
• Chapters - we should be able to have as many chapters as EDS or MTT (both over 50), and chapters would serve as a source of new members.
• Both the Journal and the old ISSCC Digests contain valuable archival information.  We should make this available to the community in CD-ROM (and then Web and/or DVD) format.
• Educational activities - a great opportunity for short courses, tutorials, continuing education, and the like.

Biggest weaknesses:

• Chapters - we need to greatly expand the number of chapters, and then support them appropriately.
• Awards - the number of nominations for Fellow and the Solid-State Circuits Technical Field Award has been disappointing.  We need to increase their number.
• Long Term Planning - this is just getting re-started after a long hiatus.
•  Involvement of elected AdCom members - the attendance of some elected AdCom members has been spotty, and in any case, they need to become more involved in the operation of the Society.  This will be addressed by having each elected AdCom member have a portfolio of activities for which they are responsible.
• Educational Activities are just getting started, and need to get up to speed.

Comments/recommendations:

SSCS has developed remarkably well in its almost two years as a Society. There is still a lot of room for improvement, and the Society is facing its problems and opportunities.  Fortunately, the basics of the Society are excellent - a strong and growing membership, solid finances, industry leading publication and conferences, and world-wide recognition and impact.  We must not become complacent (a problem that haunted the Council from time to time in the past), and must continually explore for new and effective means to move forward the Society, the IEEE, and the industry.  The influx of new people on the AdCom, voted in by the membership, should dispel any lingering concern about an "old boys club", which was mentioned in the last review of the Council.
 

Lew Terman, SSCS President 1998-1999 and   Web maintenance Anne O'Neill at the SSCS Executive Office