INSTITUTION PROFILE / ADHESIVES & ENCAPSULANTS
ECTC
The semiconductor packaging conference where new adhesive and encapsulant materials are presented
ECTC (the IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference) is an international conference on semiconductor packaging and electronic components, sponsored by the IEEE Electronics Packaging Society (EPS). It is not a body that decides standards or certifications (the official materials describe no such authority). Its link to adhesives and encapsulants is that it is the venue where new underfills, molding materials, conductive adhesives, temporary bonding adhesives, die-attach materials and their evaluation are presented in papers and debated. The 76th ECTC (May 2026) drew 2,730 registered attendees and 420 technical papers. This profile looks at how much influence a technical conference has on the industry, limited to what could be confirmed in the conference's official materials.
- ECTC in 30 seconds
- What kind of institution: the type of influence
- What ECTC does for adhesives and encapsulants
- Scope of influence: authority and geography
- Related bodies and how it runs
- Outlook
- Glossary / References / Claim-to-source audit
1. ECTC in 30 seconds
ECTC is not a body that decides which material is right; it is the place where you can see which materials and evaluation methods are emerging. The EPS describes its own objectives as "scientific, literary, and educational in character" Sourced. It still matters to adhesive and encapsulant engineers, because the materials challenges of the next generation of packages, such as chiplets and panel-level packaging, come together here every year. The call for papers for the 77th ECTC lists, under Materials & Processing, capillary, molded, film and wafer-level underfills, conductive and non-conductive adhesives and temporary bonding adhesives, among other topics Sourced.
2. What kind of institution: the type of influence
The institutions in our adhesives profiles do not make products themselves. They can be sorted into four types according to the route by which they influence the industry. ECTC is of the "convening" type: it brings researchers and engineers together through a conference and its papers.
3. What ECTC does for adhesives and encapsulants
ECTC connects to adhesives and encapsulants through paper presentations, educational courses and exhibits.
| Mechanism | What it is (as described in ECTC's official materials) | Link to adhesives and encapsulants |
|---|---|---|
| Call for papers (77th) | Materials & Processing topics include: polymer, solder and liquid-metal TIMs; die attach; low-k and low-loss dielectrics; capillary, reworkable, molded, film and wafer-level underfills; high-thermal-conductivity materials; temporary bonding adhesives (UV and thermal release); conductive and non-conductive adhesives; interfacial adhesion materials | Almost every area of adhesives and encapsulants appears among the topics. The abstract deadline is 5 October 2026 and authors are notified on 7 December |
| Presentations (76th) | Session 9, "Advances in Thermal Materials and Encapsulation" (afternoon of 27 May 2026, Materials & Processing). Examples: high-thermal-conductivity molding materials (SPIL, Sumitomo Bakelite, MediaTek and others), negative-thermal-expansion fillers for encapsulation materials (Mitsubishi Chemical) and a low-warpage hybrid molding compound (Seoul National University) | The program also lists Cu/polymer hybrid bonding with a novel polymer adhesive (Mitsui Chemicals and ASE), self-assembling adhesives for ultra-fine interconnects (Nopion), tuning the reaction pathway of packaging epoxies (NIST), and encapsulation of ultra-large die complexes (Intel) |
| Professional development courses (PDC) | Sixteen courses at the 76th, including PDC 09, "Polymers for Advanced Packaging" (instructor: Jeff Gotro, InnoCentrix) | A place to learn polymer fundamentals. Courses on bonding, reliability and thermal management are also offered |
| Exhibition | The 76th exhibitor listings include materials makers such as Henkel, Indium Corporation, DELO Industrial Adhesives, Dow and AI Technology. There were 136 exhibitors | Each company's own profile mentions adhesives, encapsulation, TIMs and silicone materials (the makers' own descriptions) |
The titles in Session 9 show thermal conductivity, thermal expansion and warpage as the main challenges for encapsulants. The issues covered in our explainers on molding, the coefficient of thermal expansion and semiconductor encapsulants are updated here in papers every year Sourced. Many papers, however, report research-stage results, and a paper cannot tell you whether a material will reach volume production. Also, standards for how to measure, such as test methods for bond strength, are set by other bodies, notably ISO and SEMI, not at ECTC (see our ISO and SEMI profiles in this series).
4. Scope of influence: authority and geography
| Aspect | What ECTC has | What ECTC does not have |
|---|---|---|
| Authority | The program committee solicits presentations, builds the sessions and gives awards, such as the Intel Best Student Paper award | Authority over standards or certification, or over law (none was found) |
| Geography | Attendees at the 76th came from 29 countries. It is held in the United States (Orlando in 2026, Denver in 2027). The EPS has chapters in the US, Europe and Asia/Pacific | Legal standing in any country. Both the 2026 and 2027 meetings are in the United States |
| Scope in adhesives and sealing | All of semiconductor packaging: materials and processing, packaging technologies, photonics, reliability and more. Adhesives and encapsulants are one part | It is not a conference only for adhesives and encapsulants. The share of papers on adhesives and encapsulation is not published |
| Size | 2,730 registered attendees, 420 technical papers, 136 exhibitors and over 240 program-committee experts (76th ECTC and the call for the 77th) | The EPS membership figure was not found on the official pages checked |
ECTC's official materials give slightly different scale figures depending on the document. The pre-event program says "approximately 450 technical papers", the post-event website says "252 presentations and 115 exhibitors", and the call for papers for the 77th says "420 technical papers, 136 exhibitors and 2,730 registered attendees" Sourced. The differences probably come from what is counted (oral presentations only, or posters too) and when, but the official materials do not let us say for sure Not yet confirmed. This article uses the figures from the call for papers for the 77th, which was compiled after the event.
5. Related bodies and how it runs
According to the EPS website, the EPS is one of IEEE's 38 technical societies and shares information through conferences, workshops and peer-reviewed journals. The EPS was formerly known as CPMT (ECTC's page says "formerly CPMT") Sourced. ECTC is run by committees of more than 200 (according to the About page) to more than 240 (according to the 77th call for papers) engineers and scientists. Adhesive and encapsulant makers take part through presentations and exhibits, as Section 3 shows, but this article did not check which committees their staff sit on.
6. Outlook
| What can be read | Primary information behind it | Status |
|---|---|---|
| The 77th ECTC is planned for 1 to 4 June 2027 at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Denver, Colorado. The abstract deadline is 5 October 2026 and authors are notified on 7 December 2026 | The ECTC website and the call for papers for the 77th | Not yet confirmed |
| Many 76th ECTC presentations named thermal conductivity, low warpage and thermal expansion as encapsulant challenges, and the 77th call keeps similar topics (high-thermal-conductivity materials, warpage control, temporary bonding) | The 76th final program (Session 9) and the Materials & Processing topics in the 77th call for papers | Inference |
| Panel-level integration is the subject of a special session, so presentations on encapsulation and adhesive materials for panels may keep increasing | The 76th special session "New Packaging Technologies for Panel Level Integration" and the 77th call, which includes panel-level packaging | Inference |
7. Glossary
- IEEE EPS
- IEEE Electronics Packaging Society, the professional society for electronic packaging researchers and engineers. Formerly CPMT.
- PDC
- Professional development course: a one-day technical course held during the conference.
- Underfill
- Resin that fills the space around the bumps of a flip-chip connection. Types include capillary, molded and film (see our explainer on underfill).
- Die attach
- The process and materials for bonding a chip to a substrate or leadframe (see our explainer on die attach).
- TIM
- Thermal interface material: a material placed between parts to move heat (see our explainer on thermal interface materials).
8. References
- ECTC Home page (dates and venue of the 77th, abstract schedule, overview of the 76th). https://ectc.net/
- ECTC About ECTC (sponsored by the IEEE EPS, formerly CPMT; scope; more than 200 committee members; pointer to IEEE Xplore). https://ectc.net/about/
- ECTC 76th ECTC Highlights (252 presentations, 36 sessions, 115 exhibitors, special sessions). https://ectc.net/76th-ectc-highlights/
- ECTC Final program of the 76th ECTC (26 to 29 May 2026, Orlando; approximately 450 papers; Session 9; PDC list; exhibitor listings). https://ectc.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/76-ECTCFinal-Web.v2.pdf
- ECTC Call for papers for the 77th ECTC (2,730 registered attendees from 29 countries, 420 papers, 136 exhibitors, 918 abstracts, over 240 committee experts, Materials & Processing topics). https://ectc.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/77thCallforPapers-Web1.pdf
- IEEE Electronics Packaging Society About (one of IEEE's 38 technical societies, objectives, chapters, organisation). https://eps.ieee.org/about/
9. Claim-to-source audit
| Claim in the text | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dates and venue of the 77th; abstract deadline (5 October 2026) and notification (7 December) | Sourced | Reference 1 https://ectc.net/ |
| Sponsored by the IEEE EPS (formerly CPMT); more than 200 committee members | Sourced | Reference 2 https://ectc.net/about/ |
| Post-event figures for the 76th (252 presentations, 115 exhibitors) | Sourced | Reference 3 https://ectc.net/76th-ectc-highlights/ |
| Dates and venue of the 76th, approximately 450 papers, Session 9 titles, PDC 09, exhibitors | Sourced | Reference 4 https://ectc.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/76-ECTCFinal-Web.v2.pdf |
| 2,730 registered attendees from 29 countries, 420 papers, 136 exhibitors, 918 abstracts, over 240 committee experts, Materials & Processing topics | Sourced | Reference 5 https://ectc.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/77thCallforPapers-Web1.pdf |
| The EPS is one of IEEE's 38 technical societies; its objectives are scientific, literary and educational; chapters in the US, Europe and Asia/Pacific | Sourced | Reference 6 https://eps.ieee.org/about/ |
| The four types of institution and the arrangement of Fig. 2 | Our calculation | Classification by this article |
| Reasons for the differences between official figures, the share of papers on adhesives and encapsulants, EPS membership, the year of the first ECTC, whether any standards or certification authority exists | Not yet confirmed | Not stated in the official materials checked. This article does not estimate them |
| Trends in encapsulant challenges and growth in panel-level materials papers (Section 6) | Inference | This article's reading of References 4 and 5 |
Last updated 3 October 2026 / Troy Technical
Figures come from ECTC's website and official PDFs and from the IEEE EPS website. Items marked "Inference" are this article's reading of the primary information.