F.6 Koomey’s law: Computing power efficiency doubles every 1.6 years due to progress in logic and memories technology.
1940 1960 1980 2000 2020
Increased connectivity has a potentially strong impact on the energy consumption of the communication networks. To avoid an explosion in energy consumption, energy per transmitted data unit must be cut radically. Intelligent beam-forming techniques to limit radio signals only to directions of active user terminals, efficient communication protocols and network management algorithms will be developed, as well as highly efficiency electronic components.
Application-specific semiconductor technologies
In recent years, application-specific semiconductor technologies have played an ever-increasing role in our day-to-day lives; without advances in sensor and actuator technologies, passive and active safety solutions in cars or the ‘smartness’ of smartphones would be unthinkable. Similarly, the introduction of the renewable energies, minimised chargers and electric powertrains in vehicles are all dependent on the capabilities of achieving higher power densities and far less dissipation loss to enable ever smaller form factors.
Those technologies are evolving towards smaller but more heteroge-neous components, fabrication on larger wafer diameters, continuous cost reductions, and improved performance, all of which enables fur-ther developments in the market for ECS.
Those advanced application-specific technologies were made possible thanks to the development of processes and materials (such as SiC and GaN for RF and power devices), as well as the necessary equipment.
They enable innovative emerging applications while leveraging synergies with processing and manufacturing technologies of More-Moore devices.
Heterogeneous Integration/comprehensive smart miniaturised systems
The realisation of smart electronic components and systems for Europe’s critical applications requires complementing logic, memories, communication and power electronics with a large number of additional features for functions such as sensing (e.g., MEMS, photonics and RADAR imagers), actuating, data protection and energy management. To a growing extent, the heterogeneous functionalities can be integrated monolithically. These system-on-chip (SiC) components can have substantial embedded memory but also mixed-signal and smart power capabilities. However, the highest complexity still necessitates multichip components and the use of system-in-package (SiP) integration technologies. Here, 3D stacking and multi-level fan-in or fan-out wafer-level packaging are the most advanced concepts today, with a clear trend pointing towards finer structures, smaller pitches and higher diversity of the features integrated.
Ñ
9 Neuromorphic computing uses architecture and design principles
10 Carer Mead, Neuromorphic Electronic Systems, Proceedings of the IEEE, 78(10), October 1990.
11 Monroe, D. (2014). “Neuromorphic computing gets ready for the (really) big time”, Communications of the ACM, 57(6): 13–15, doi:10.1145/2601069.
12 Neuromorphic Computing:
The Machine of a New Soul, The Economist, 2013-08-03.
13 Gaber, Mohamed Medhat; Stahl, Frederic; Gomes, Joao Bártolo, 2014, Pocket Data Mining – Big Data on Small Devices (Springer
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Heterogenous integration combines dies with different process nodes and technologies with die-to-die interconnect distances starting to become so close that they mimic the functional block interconnect distances inside a SoC. This requires new assembly and packaging materials, as well as compatible chip/
package interfaces. In addition, the packaging architectures must consider electro-magnetic compatibility and also temperature and thermo-mechanical constraints in order to keep the applications robust and reliable. The combination of all these challenges, which must be addressed simultaneously, makes research and innovation in heterogeneous integration and packaging/assembly technologies a key issue for the performance/reliability and cost of the ECS as a whole.
Beyond components, this game-changer impacts R&I strategy in many domains covered by the SRA, such as the following.
Computing and storage that leads to research on hardware/software specialisation according to the task at hand, and for the management of heterogeneity and complexity.
Module- and system-level integration, where the aim is to combine sensing, decision-making, actuation, communication with energy management locally and with all the necessary software functionalities in a highly comprehensive way, and to develop knowhow that enables solutions suitable for high-volume fabrication based on a multitude of different systems or sub-systems.
Connectivity and interoperability, whose R&I priorities include the development of methods and tools enabling the use of heterogeneous protocols over heterogeneous hardware.
Physical integration at all levels, in which the use of 3D architectures provides opportunities for increasing the functional density and improving the performance of the devices.
Physical integration at system level, whereby energy autonomy15 becomes an important consideration for IoT schemes, as well as the local versus global split of computing/data treatment capabilities in relation to functional autonomy and response time of the overall distributed system and its individual nodes.
Trend 2020: 0,1µm
2 µm 5 µm 8 µm 20 µm
Front-end technologies Wafer size (300 mm)
Panel infrastructure
Glass Panel interposer Organic Panel interposer
PCB infrastructure Line/Space (L/S) FOWLP Panel
Low cost solution required
F.7 The heterogeneous integration domain in electronic components merges the conventional PCB with the wafer-level technologies (Source: Fraunhofer IZM).
These new technologies enable the creation of autonomous systems that are comprehensively capable of sensing, diagnosing, deciding and actuating in a communicative and collaborative way. These systems are already often highly miniaturised, and operate in networks, feature predictive and energy autonomy capabilities, constituting the embodiment of what is now known as the Internet of Things. In the future, they will increasingly integrate physical artificial intelligence, feature self-organising, self-monitoring, and self-healing and truly cognitive functionalities. They will be designed to meet the growing requirements in terms of reliability, functional safety and security that result from the new applications, and also the demanding environments in the fields of personal and freight transport, digital industry, health and wellbeing, smart energy and digital life. At the same time, many of these systems will be fabricated for the business-to-business sectors and the general public – i.e., at costs appropriate to the markets of both commercial and individual end-users. With this large penetration, these new systems will address and substantially contribute to the mastering of the societal challenges.
Additive manufacturing/3D printing
The constraints of current manufacturing infrastructure, optimised for low-cost/high-quality products that are mass produced in enormous quantities in Asia, lead to standardised components and product designs, limited freedom of shape, a rigid supply chain and pressure to minimise variation to allow the high fixed manufacturing costs to be amortised over many produced units. Additive manufacturing techniques have the potential to introduce a major paradigm change in the industry, enabling Europe to regain leadership in the fabrication of the increasingly customised products demanded by today’s segmented markets. One striking example is the health sector, where these technologies enable the fabrication of patient-specific anatomical models. Beyond that, they could even disrupt supply chains and business models, as parts made centrally and subsequently shipped across the world could be 3D-printed in decentralised locations.
Micro Nano Bio Systems (MNBS)
Combined with the continuous development of new materials (such as graphene and metamaterials for medical devices) and 3D printing using biological materials, computerised numerical control machining could allow the printing of implants and prosthetics adapted to the individual.
Leveraging the latest advances in energy harvesting and power management will enable devices that may never need to be replaced.
Nano devices will change diagnostics, targeted drug treatment and local treatments. Bio-sensing, molecular biology and genomics will also provide greater insight for personalised treatments.
One step further, the in vitro technologies used today to develop organs on a chip should lead to in vivo implantable organs on a chip Ñ
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or implantable organs in a package that could substitute for donor organs or assist ailing deficient organs. These will help lead the way in regenerative medicine, aiming to restore degenerated, diseased or damaged tissues and organs, thereby increasing vital functioning and reducing the cost of healthcare.
Integrated Photonics
Integrated photonics uses light particles (photons) instead of electrons for the instantaneous transport of data, related data processing and sensing, for example. Integrating multiple photonic functions on a (photonic) chip creates an impact similar to that of IC’s revolutionised microelectronics in the 1980s, resulting in mass producible products that are cheaper, lighter, faster, smaller and greener (having significantly less energy consumption). Recent progress in technology already allows to integrating the translation between light and electrical signals in both directions. In these so-called active optical cables, the amplification of light is possible, and the conversion between light and optical signals can be realised by the connectors. The first applications in very high-speed data processing at very low energy consumption using photons as information carriers are already commercially available. However, more research and innovation is required to take advantage of the full potential of this merging of nano-electronics and photonics.
Photonic IC’s are currently emerging in applications where information is already available as light, such as in data transport, processing and communication systems using glass fibres (e.g., data centres) and light sensors (medical, agro-food, climate, mobility), as well as niche applications in quantum computing and security.
Photonics for societal megatrend applications
Photonic technologies are a major development in solving many societal challenges. Some examples are in the following.
Health: (optical) Sensing technologies for the early detection of diseases, assistance in surgery, and remote medical care.
Agro-food and food safety: Sensing ripeness and contamination of food along the supply chain from farm to fork, and ultimately finding uses in smartphones.
Communication: In data centres and 5G networks, photonic ICs can route information streams from fibre to fibre without conversion to electronics with an energy efficiency that brings substantial savings to the global electric energy consumption and at speeds that can keep pace with the exponentially growing data levels. This meets a pressing need, as in data centres alone traffic is doubling on average every three years, while in the fastest-growing hyperscale data centres traffic is doubling every year.
Mobility: Light-radar (LiDAR – Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) for (semi)-autonomous vehicles can be made compact, low power, robust and affordable using photonics. Airplanes can become more energy-efficient and safer with fibre-based load and stress sensors in their landing gear, wings and body.
Construction: Bridges and tall buildings can become safer through continuous monitoring with fibre-based stress sensors.
Climate: Optical sensors for monitoring air and water quality.
Industry 4.0: Optical sensors and low-EMC optical networks; LiDAR for robotics.
Quantum and security: Photonics is a key enabler for quantum computing and quantum-safe security.
0 — Introductory and overview chapter
Energy landscape
The ambition to achieve zero emissions towards 2050 is driving the need for change in the energy landscape through distributed variable renewable energy sources and bidirectionality in the grid landscape. ECS supports the development of this landscape with the lowest dissipation losses, integrated intelligence and smallest form factors.
By way of complementing its contribution to more efficient energy generation and distribution, ECS, and in particular power technologies, also have a huge potential impact for energy consumption in the industry domain, as illustrated by Figure 8.
The fourth industrial revolution
The first industrial revolution used water and steam power to mechanise production. The second used electric power to create mass production. The third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now, the fourth industrial revolution (supported by initiatives such as ‘Industry 4.0’, ‘Industrie du Futur’ and ‘Digitising European Industry’) heralds a fusion of technologies in which the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres are becoming blurred.
In parallel or combination with the new manufacturing technologies for automation mentioned above, advances in information and communication technology (ICT) are also allowing for large horizontal integration across multiple value chains on processes, data and companies, as well as vertical integration