Book excerpt: The Advanced Metallization Conference - held in San Diego, California, and Tokyo, Japan - marked its 25th anniversary in 2008. These two sister conferences form a unique 'one conference at two sites' that focuses on the latest R&D and manufacturing results, as well as real-world integration and reliability data on the application of metallization and related technologies for advanced IC devices. Scientists and engineers from around the world came to listen and present state-of-the-art work in the field of ULSI interconnect technology including metallization, dielectrics, integration, packaging, design and vertical integration. A keynote address by Gary Patton, vice president, IBM Systems and Technology Group, on 'Leading-edge Silicon Technology through Innovation and Collaboration', is featured. Additional topics include: integration; metallization; materials and characterization; CMP and cleaning; 3D integration and packaging; low-k materials; and reliability and yield.