SoC Emerging Technologies

Abstract

Although silicon technology is continuously evolving to produce smaller systems with minimized power dissipation and at a lower cost and improved reliability, it is expected that this trend will have matured between 2014 and 2016. This will eventually lead to the integration of a multiplicity of technologies rather than simply silicon technology. This multiplicity of technologies will be the driving force to create unprecedented opportunities for realization of new integrated systems. The marriage of microelectronics and photon-based sciences with that of nanochemistry and biotechnology brings into the forefront the evolutionary progress in future SoC technology leading to intelligent systems-on-chip ( iSoCs) as the frontier of innovative products. iSoCs will enable the development of novel circuits and systems with extraordinary new properties relevant to nearly every sector of the economy. This integration, supported by a bio-based technology, provides the foundation for a future in which sensing, imaging, information processing, and communication can be integrated. New generations of auto-sensor health monitoring devices based on intelligent diagnostics such as intelligent pacemakers that respond to individual's activity needs, wearable sensors and smart communicators, etc., become part of an important toolkit to serve our aging population, leading to the emerging concept of iSoC as its fundamental building block. This evolutionary change is the result of revolutionary concepts that link microelectronics, photonics, nanochemistry, and biotechnology,-a crucial platform-bringing into the forefront the significance of iSoC technology as the future frontier of innovative research and related products.