Interesting Article on CMOS

[KvHagedorn]

http://www.eetimes.com/semi/news/OEG20020516S0024

Since we have at least one resident expert on this, I was wondering if he might be able to dazzle us with visions of what the future of computing hardware will be like.

You know who you are..

[xortam]

Just one word ... "optronics."

[ALBPM]

More than a mere word.....

Microelectronic and Optoelectronic Integrated Circuits.

PHOTONICS--A field that was birthed by the invention of the LASER in the early 1960's, promises a world in which light can be used to perform many of the everyday functions that we generally achieve using electrical, mechanical, or chemical energy. Though lasers are generally thought of as large, energy efficient devices, semiconductor research is showing that lasers can be very small and highly efficient devices that can offer revolutionary capabilities previously unimaginable. Just as elemental silicon has fueled the revolution in microelectronics, compound semiconductors (with their unique ability to act as efficient emitters of light) will power a revolution in photonics.

Photonics

And that's not all....

MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) and IMEMS(Integrated MicroElectroMechanical Systems).

Imagine a machine so small that it is imperceptible to the human eye.
Imagine working machines with gears no bigger than a grain of pollen.
Imagine these machines being batch fabricated tens of thousands at a time, at a cost of only a few pennies each.
Imagine a realm where the world of design is turned upside down, and the seemingly impossible suddenly becomes easy--a place where gravity and inertia are no longer important, but the effects of atomic forces and surface science dominate.
Welcome to the microdomain, a world now occupied by an explosive new technology known as MEMS
(MicroElectroMechanical Systems) or, more simply, micromachines.

MEMS and IMEMS

Yes, these are all fabricated on Si wafers . Most are packed into die approximately the same size or smaller than your Pentiums.

Oboy and Darth ... INSIDE<SUP>tm</SUP>!!!! ...

[KvHagedorn]

Just hope I live to see all these wonders you're cooking up there.

[xortam]

My comment was probably too subtle for most of you. I was doing an update of the movie "The Graduate".

I read a Bay Area newspaper article on this within the last month or two but it seems to have been archived. Let us know when you're ready to pass out samples Paul.

[Wombat]

Silicon still has a long long way to go, CMOS wise. It was "on the virge of extinction" almost 20 years ago. Then there's all the stuff Paul mentioned, as well as combinations of molecular gates and self-assembling circuits.

[ALBPM]

Berkely is doing a lot of work in the MEMs area these days and should have something on their website.


Wombat is right on. Silicon still has a lot of untapped potential.

Paul