Challenges and opportunities in the broadband connected world

The communications IC industry is experiencing explosive growth as a result of the emergence of highly integrated, very low cost, mixed-mode (digital, analog and RF) system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions that enable virtually every electronic device to be connected to a network. There are a multitude of communications technologies that are being developed to address the diverse demands of the connected user. The desirability of user mobility has driven wireless communications to be one of the fastest growing sectors of the communications IC industry. The requirement for very low power dissipation in these battery powered devices presents some unique challenges to the process technology industry as leakage currents and the inability to reduce power supply voltages much further become the limiting factors in choosing whether or not to adopt a next generation process node for a particular design.