In quest of the next information processing substrate

Conventional CMOS scaling and the Moore's law have been the cornerstone of progress in computing hardware technology. However, with dimensional scaling expected to end soon, there is a pressing need to find the next information processing hardware that can continue to support the technology revolution. Will this hardware solution be an enhanced or an augmented version of MOSFET or a switch based on a radically new switching mechanism. Ultimately, do we require a complete deviation from the Boolean paradigm itself? In this invited paper, we will review some of the actively pursued future logic, merged logic-memory and related concepts. While it remains unclear which of these options will eventually make it into commercial products, we will argue- based on lessons learnt from the past two decades of transistor development- that sustained and systematic research with careful benchmarking from future workload and applications viewpoint remains the key to success in the quest for the new information processing hardware.