Guest Editorial Special Section on the 2018 International Symposium on Semiconductor Manufacturing.

Since its beginning in 1992 in Japan, International Symposium on Semiconductor Manufacturing (ISSM) has provided unique opportunities to share the best practices of semiconductor manufacturing technologies for professionals. At the symposiums, semiconductor manufacturing professionals discussed the technologies developed to meet the worldwide requirements for advanced manufacturing. It is becoming crucial to re-examine semiconductor manufacturing in terms of fundamental principles to improve the performance of semiconductor devices. Moreover, utilizing artificial intelligence technologies to improve semiconductor manufacturing have become a new challenge. These manufacturing technology challenges are showing the need for drastic revolutionary concept and stronger collaborative efforts to find solutions to the precompetitive challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]