The Conundrum of Uncertainty in a Semiconductor
World of Certainty
Abstract
Semiconductors are increasingly seen in everything and in everywhere. It is fast becoming the oil of the world of industry 3.0 and 4.0. The critical impact of semiconductor as a supply chain product and technology to the politics and economy of every major developed or developing countries can no more be ignored. Any large size corporations, such as Apple, Google, Qualcomm, Toyota, Mercedes cannot afford to overlook the very critical role semiconductor played in securing their competitive advantage in the marketplace.
For the last 50 or more years, semiconductor industry has rigidly progressed on a path of certainty given by the Moore's law and the high predictability of silicon technology. But lately, the industry has begun to experience an increasing exhaustion of the Moore's law, and many are now convinced that we are near the inflexion point. There are currently three options offered on the table: 1) More Moore, 2) More than Moore and 3) Beyond CMOS. The Pandora box of uncertainty in the future of semiconductor technology is now widely opened and the chapter of Silicon technology and its certainty maybe a step closer to its last.
In the past, often it was the semiconductor industry that drives the outcome of many products. Lately, however, new, and powerful applications are increasingly driving and spurring innovations in the semiconductor industry. New applications in the areas of IoT, metaverse, medical science and biotech, wireless 5G and 6G, autonomous transportation, factory automation, quantum computing, space industry and, etc. are the driving forces behind many of the newly born ideas and innovations of semiconductor technologies. For "More Moore", smartphones and the like continue to exert pressure for packing higher and higher number of devices, only to be restrained by thermal performance in the 2D and currently the 3D Silicon integration technology. "For more than Moore", we have, for example, 3D device architecture using nanoribbon and FinFet technology with Si and other semiconductor materials to drive the limits of 3D Si VLSI. For "Beyond CMOS", especially for space, mining, factory automation and quantum computing applications, ultra-low and ultra-high temperature electronics using GaN and the like are being aggressively explored. In addition, 2D, 1D and 0D (quantum dot) Graphene are trying hard to dethrone the crown of Si technology within the next few decades. There is also the analog vs digital semiconductor device technology competing for a place to provide much higher power efficient and faster hardware AI, especially for IoT and many other online power constraint applications. Multi-dimensional and technology integration including the integration of semiconductor with integrated antennas and the rollout of flexible electronics would be especially useful for personal electronic gadgets.
Ultimately, the success in integration technology is the key to the success of new and emerging semiconductor technologies such as Gan technology. Integration technologies, technology integration and interpenetration technology for GaN technology will be explained, discussed and explored as a case study.
Short Biography
Dr. Teo worked at Nortel Networks for about 15 years where main R&D thrusts were in 3G and 4G Wireless Communication Systems and Mesh Networks. Currently working at Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs (MERL), Cambridge, MA, USA. He is one of the main authors of ANSI C63.17 for the unlicensed bands and a contributor to WiMAX and LTE standards in the PHY and MAC layers. He is author and co-author of over 150 reviewed journal and conference papers and three chapter books. In addition, he is also an inventor and co-inventor of over 200 granted patents and patent applications which span across areas that include Nano and Surface Physics, Superconductor, Thermal Physics, Semiconductor Power Devices, Metamaterial, Wireless Communications, Cognitive Radio, Game Theory, RF and Power Electronics, Battery Charging and Wireless Power Transfer, GaN technology, and motor technology. Currently he is working as a strategy project leader at MERL.