Technology Directions for the 21st Century, volume 1

For several decades, semiconductor device density and performance have been doubling about every 18 months (Moore's Law). With present photolithography techniques, this rate can continue for only about another 10 years. Continued improvement will need to rely on newer technologies. Transition from the current micron range for transistor size to the nanometer range will permit Moore's Law to operate well beyond 10 years. The technologies that will enable this extension include: single-electron transistors; quantum well devices; spin transistors; and nanotechnology and molecular engineering. Continuation of Moore's Law will rely on huge capital investments for manufacture as well as on new technologies. Much will depend on the fortunes of Intel, the premier chip manufacturer, which, in turn, depend on the development of mass-market applications and volume sales for chips of higher and higher density. The technology drivers are seen by different forecasters to include video/multimedia applications, digital signal processing, and business automation. Moore's Law will affect NASA in the areas of communications and space technology by reducing size and power requirements for data processing and data fusion functions to be performed onboard spacecraft. In addition, NASA will have the opportunity to be a pioneering contributor to nanotechnology research without incurring huge expenses

Antitrust, Innovation, and Product Design in Platform Markets: \u3ci\u3eMicrosoft\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eIntel\u3c/i\u3e

The Antitrust Division’s Microsoft case and the Federal Trade Commission’s Intel case both rested on claims that antitrust intervention was necessary to preserve innovation in technological platforms at the heart of the personal computer. Yet, because those very platforms support markets that are among the most innovative in the American economy, injudicious intervention might well have jeopardized the very innovation that antitrust should promote. In this article, we review the role of platforms in technological innovation and consider how antitrust standards should apply to them. We then examine how Microsoft resolved antitrust issues affecting platform design at various stages of the litigation and show how that experience informed the allegations and the settlement in Intel. We are particularly concerned with the parallel claims in the two cases that Microsoft and Intel each used its control over the design of a dominant platform to hinder innovations that might have made a complementary product a better substitute for the platform. This exercise should help guide future applications of monopolization standards to high technology platforms

Industry clockspeed and competency chain design : an introductory essay

Cover title. "March 1996."Includes bibliographical references (leaf 6).Supported in part by the International Center for Research on the Management of Technology (ICRMOT).Charles H. Fine

Power management as a system-level inhibitor of modularity in the mobile computer industry

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design & Management Program, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 88-90).Since the mid-90s, the computer industry has been very modular with respect to both product architecture and industry structure. The growing market size of mobile computers means that the challenges facing this segment are starting to affect the direction of the industry. It is argued in this paper that power management in mobile computers is forcing the industry in the direction of more integral product solutions and, hence, a more integral industry structure. That is to say, the industry is assuming a structure similar to the early days of mainframe computers when one firm delivered the entire proprietary integral system. Furthermore, this trend towards more integrality in mobile computer systems is due to fundamental physical attributes of the system; specifically, that information transfer systems lend themselves more readily to modular architectures than systems that transfer significant power. Thus, as processors and mobile computers become more powerful, they start to behave more like power transfer systems and side effects of this power, such as heat, require a more integral approach to managing it. A "free body" diagram framework is presented which provides a way of thinking about how integrality forces are acting on an industry's trajectory. Evidence is presented showing how the dominant player in the computer supply chain, Intel, is exhibiting this vertical/integral behavior in a number of ways.by Samuel K. Weinstein.S.M

Antitrust, Innovation, and Product Design in Platform Markets: \u3ci\u3eMicrosoft\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eIntel\u3c/i\u3e

The Antitrust Division’s Microsoft case and the Federal Trade Commission’s Intel case both rested on claims that antitrust intervention was necessary to preserve innovation in technological platforms at the heart of the personal computer. Yet, because those very platforms support markets that are among the most innovative in the American economy, injudicious intervention might well have jeopardized the very innovation that antitrust should promote. In this article, we review the role of platforms in technological innovation and consider how antitrust standards should apply to them. We then examine how Microsoft resolved antitrust issues affecting platform design at various stages of the litigation and show how that experience informed the allegations and the settlement in Intel. We are particularly concerned with the parallel claims in the two cases that Microsoft and Intel each used its control over the design of a dominant platform to hinder innovations that might have made a complementary product a better substitute for the platform. This exercise should help guide future applications of monopolization standards to high technology platforms

The Issue of Globalization-An Overview

[From Summary] In the 1990s, globalization gained widespread usage as a term with many interpretations. Globalism is employed in this report to describe networks of interdependence functioning at multi-continental distances. Globalization is an increase in globalism and de-globalization a reduction. In providing an introductory view of these networks, with an emphasis on contemporary economic factors, a goal of this report is to illustrate how policy consequences, sometimes unintended, may be dispersed via globalized networks. As networks expand and become more intricate there is an opportunity for feedback along previously non-existent linkages

Migration from electronics to photonics in multicore processor

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 54).Twenty - first opportunities for Gigascale Integration will be governed in part by a hierarchy of physical limits on interconnect. Microprocessor performance is now limited by the poor delay and bandwidth performance of the on - chip global wiring layer. This thesis is envisioned as a critical showstopper of electronic industry in the near future. The physical reason behind the interconnect bottleneck is the resistive nature of metals. The introduction of copper in place of aluminum has temporarily improved the interconnect performance, but a more disruptive solution will be required in order to keep the current pace of progress, optical interconnect is an intriguing alternative to metallic wires. Many - core microprocessors will push performance per chip from the 10 gigaflop to the 10 teraflop range in the coming decade. Pin limitations, the energy cost of electrical signaling, and the non - scalability of chip - length global wires are significant bandwidth impediments. Silicon nanophotonic based many core architecture are introduced in order to meet the bandwidth requirements at acceptable power levels.by Zhoujia Xu.M.Eng