Moving beyond the edge of the map

Created by the American Semiconductor Industry Association, the Silicon Roadmap is a thick document forecasting the future of the microchip industry. It goes as far as 2012. Researchers at the University of Glasgow are moving beyond the edge of the map, looking into the unknown beyond this date with the aim of preventing the electronics industry from grinding to a halt.

Professors Asen Asenov and John Barker, and Dr Scott Roy from Electronics and Electrical Engineering at Glasgow University have been awarded £1.2m by the Engineering and Physical Research Council (EPSRC) for their work within the world-leading Glasgow Device Modelling Group. The Group uses simulation tools and techniques to better understand and design the transistors that will power future generation electronic devices similar to the iPhone and Playstation 3.

‘We don’t know exactly what the future of the semiconductor industry holds, but we would like to make sure that Scotland and the UK be an important part of this future.’ Professor Asen Asenov

Small means smart

The problem that faces the semiconductor industry is that as the transistors used in products such as mobile phones, computers and microwaves are reaching sizes of almost molecular level they are becoming unpredictable, making it harder to design future chips that will remain sufficiently stable.

Professor Asenov explains: ‘The platform grant from the EPSRC will allow us to develop models of the next generation atomic scale transistors, which will be 10 times smaller than their present counterpart, and to learn how to integrate a hundred times more of them into the chips that will make the gadgets of the future faster and smarter.’