In the summer of 1998 a Workshop was held at a beautiful French island in the Mediterranean (Ile des Embiez) entitled Future Trends in Microelectronics: Off the Beaten Path. The inspiration for this meeting was, as for its predecessor at Ile de Bendor, France (June 1995), the widespread feeling that the microelectronics industry is at a crossroad. Many of us sense a turning point in the logical evolution of the giant VLSI industry, which, of course, is and will remain the dominant force in microelectronics.
Ever since the invention of the transistor and especially after the advent of integrated circuits, semiconductor devices have kept expanding their role in our life. For better or worse our civilization is destined to be based on semiconductors. Transistor circuits entertain us and keep track of our money, they fight our wars and decipher the secret codes of life, and one day, perhaps, they will relieve us from the burden of thinking and making responsible decisions. Inasmuch as that day has not yet arrived, we have to fend for ourselves. The key to success is a clear vision of where are we heading in these turbulent times.
The celebrated Si technology has known a virtually one-dimensional path of development: reducing the minimal size of lithographic features. Looking down the road, some see storm clouds loom large over major "technological discontinuities". From economical viewpoint, there is a widespread fear that this path has taken us to the point of diminishing return. This fear has resulted in reduced investments in hardware technology and even in R&D in favor of dramatically increased interest in software and circuit design within existing technologies.
There is certainly no shortage of opinion about what is going on in our profession. Some, haunted by the specter of steel industry, believe that the semiconductor microelectronics industry has matured and the research game is over. Others believe the progress in hardware technology will come back roaring, based on innovative research. A free-spirited debate of these questions between the leading professionals in the Industry, Government, and Academia was the main purpose of the Embiez Workshop. Identifying the scenario for the future evolution of microelectronics presents a tremendous opportunity for constructive action today.
Like the earlier Workshop in Bendor, this meeting was by invitation only. The format of the Workshop included prepared invited presentations, ad hoc contributions and uninhibited exchanges of views and rebuttals, expressions and critiques of new ideas. Some of the key luminaries of our profession shared their opinions and led the discussions on where we are going and/or should be going. Balanced representations of advocacy and opposition were intentionally sought. Limited by the capacity of the meeting place, over 80 people of highest caliber attended the meeting.
In keeping with the successful format worked out at Ile de Bendor, each of the five Workshop days began with presentations by key speakers and concluded with an evening panel session with two or three lead (and provocative) position statements, followed by debates among the panelists (all participants). The debate has been forcefully moderated and irrelevant digressions cut off without mercy. Moderators were also assigned a hopeless task to to forge a consensus on critical issues.
The oral presentations, discussions and debates were complemented by afternoon poster sessions where the latest experimental results, achievements, and supporting data could be displayed in the form of posters. Formal presentations, each including a 20-minute question period, comprise the morning session of each day. It has been intended and requested that the morning presentations focussed not on the description of recent achievements of the speaker or his/her group - these being covered in posters - but concentrate on the future trends in sharp, often provocative, terms. The panel discussions centered around the core issue(s) covered by the morning session and the afternoon poster session of the day. The topics of discussion and the complete list of all attendees and their co-authors are appended below.
Compared to the earlier meeting at Bendor,
the Embiez Workshop had a much stronger representation from microelectronics
giants
of Asia. Perhaps for this reason, or maybe due
to rapidly changed times, we saw a greater consensus on several key issues,
expected to be controversial. Thus, speaker
after speaker declared Moore's Law dead, as it applies to one-dimensional
miniaturization trend.
At the same time, most speakers agreed that exponential
development of microelectronics will continue for quite some time -- with
no end in sight -- but shrinking silicon devices will not dominate this
exponent. Toward the end of the Workshop it has become clear that the attendees
collectively have a coherent while multifaceted message that should be
shared with the professional community at large. This book represents an
attempt to code and transmit this message. Coding is of course necessary
because "medium is the message" and we are now "in print"
!
Acknowledgement:
This book is a collective treatise by all attendees of the Embiez meeting. It is offered to you thanks to a bold decision by Wiley Publishers, thanks especially to George Telecki, a Senior Editor of Wiley Interscience.
The conference at Ile des Embiez was possible
owing to support from
On behalf of all Workshop attendees sincere gratitude
is expressed to the above organizations for their generous support and
especially to the following individuals whose initiative was indispensable:
Appendix 2. Complete list of the attendees, authors and co-authors, their affiliation and email.
Although only a fraction of presentations at Embiez
have been selected
for inclusion in this volume, it is really a
collective treatise of
which all attendees can be regarded as co-authors
-- through their
contribution in the debates and poster sessions,
and through the general
ambiance which made this book possible.
July 1998
Serge Luryi
Jimmy Xu
Alex Zaslavsky