From living faster to living better

For decades semiconductor developments have been driven by Moore's Law productivity gains. This led to extremely fast digital processors, increase in bandwidth and huge memories that boost productivity of PCs, mobile phones, and other applications demanding heavy data traffic and storage. The economics of the IC industry as well as developments in society, however, will cause the trend to turn, leading to a paradigm shift in the semiconductors world. Our industry is confronted with sky-rocketing cost levels for system-on-chip development in advanced CMOS technology. Secondly, ongoing shrinking the physical dimensions will eventually cause Moore's Law to come to an end. At the same time, consumer demand shifts from ever more productive consumer electronics to a variety of new smart products adding value to daily life. A globally graying population demands for innovations in medical devices and food safety. Raising environmental awareness demands for smart "green" solutions. In transportation IC innovations help to bring safety, to overcome traffic congestion, and to deliver all thinkable information to consumers on the move. These and many more applications are typically realized by integration of existing CMOS technologies with "more-than-Moore" technologies, like analog/mixed-signal, high-voltage, and MEMS.