Living with Silicon After the Year 2010
Presenter: A. Richard Newton
University of California at Berkeley
Notes:
Why study silicon? It seems that the silicon IC industry is on solid ground, with record profits, and the investments made in research and development in the 1970’s and 1980’s have found their home in today’s silicon manufacturers, EDA companies, and system companies. All true.
The research community continues to invest in the development of new materials, new device technologies (e.g. quantum well devices) and seeding new “industries.” However, every so often it is worthwhile being certain that one is not falling victim to “the devil you know versus the devil you don’t.”
In this regard, it is worth noting that over the past twenty years, the industries around silicon have “reinvented” themselves a number of times. For example, the EDA industry has gone through at least three generations of players since the late 1970’s. With each generation, the new tools, the new methodology, was the time the industry had “finally reached critical mass.” Every time, the industry turned over once again.
The fact is that “silicon” keeps changing, and the silicon-based industries of the year 2010 are likely to bear little resemblance to those of today.