Findings and Recommendations - Implications of Emerging Micro-and Nanotechnologies - page 198

arrays of sensors (sensor swarms) on combinations of fixed and movable plat-
forms. These array systems will exhibit new or emergent properties significantly
different from those of individual components and will allow increasingly au-
tonomous operation of Air Force systems (T4). Harnessing the capabilities of
microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) to propulsion and aerodynamics will
allow miniaturization of air and space platforms (T5). Maximizing the utility of
these growing capabilities in information technology, biomimetics, individual
sensors and sensor swarms, and MEMS actuators for the Air Force will demand
specific attention to system design, architecture, and software for system imple-
mentation (T6). Because of the wide range of new capabilities being enabled, the
trend to merging heterogeneous materials systems and to expanding the range of
materials in micro- and nanoscale devices and systems is inexorable (T7).

Finding T1. Further miniaturization of digital electronics with increased
density (~128

) is projected by the integrated circuit industry over the next
15 years based on continued scaling of current technology. The most recent
ITRS forecasts the accelerated introduction of smaller dimensions and greater
computational power than were forecast by the ITRS 2 years ago.

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Recommendation T1. The Air Force should position itself to take advan-
tage of the advances predicted by the Information Technology Roadmap for
Semiconductors. Dramatic advances are predicted for device technology.
Software, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), embedded com-
puters integrating software and hardware for specialized applications, and
radiation-hardening and packaging for hostile environments must be de-
signed by, and for, the military, to take advantage of these advances.

Finding T2. In anticipation of an ultimate end to the historical scaling of
today's integrated circuit technology, many new and alternative concepts
involving nanometer-dimensioned structures are being examined. As yet,
none of these concepts had demonstrated the necessary functionality and
integrability to be a clear choice for “beyond silicon.” Many different mate-
rial and device technologies will need to be explored well into the future.
Two facts seem clear. First, it is not possible to make reliable, long-term
predictions of breakthrough capabilities emerging from the rich frontier of
discovery, fabrication, and material properties at nanometer dimensions. The
numerous avenues of research investigation are likely to uncover unexpected
processes and/or material properties that will have an impact at the funda-
mental level of information processing. Second, it seems likely that the
initial applications of any of these technologies will build on and enhance the
very strong base of existing integrated circuit technology, which will provide
the necessary backbone of functionality and integrability until an entirely
new computation paradigm emerges.