The 2011 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS), finalised late last year, has been publicly released.
The roadmap looks at the problems facing the chipmaking industry from now until 2026 and includes some updates that focus on low-power design. The slides prepared by Andrew Kahng on design, for example, show how expectations on power have changed - and in a quite a big way since the last update.
I'll take a closer look at what has changed as I digest the information myself. According the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), which manages the ITRS site, several key areas of advancement have been highlighted in the 2011 ITRS: DRAM and flash memory as well as micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS).
The ITRS report notes that Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) technology development will be accelerated which will allow for faster introduction of technologies like higher-performance servers and sophisticated graphics for game consoles. Additionally, flash technology, used as memory in mobile computing devices such as digital cameras, tablet PCs and cell phones, is expected to experience accelerated development over the next two years. And the introduction of three-dimensional (3D) flash technology beginning in 2016 will allow for higher memory densities.
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