My job is currently working with a group trying to extend lithography to 13 nm light... current state of the art is 157 nm light. The shorter the wavelength the smaller the features that can be made... At some point in the next couple of decades we will reach the limit of what we can do with silicon- the chances are there will be a period of time that moores law will come to an end... The next generation of circuts will be most likely be molecular in scale... work on carbon nanotube wires and switches is being done now, but has such a long way to go.

It is very likely there will be a delay between the reaching of the limit of silicon and the practicality of using the next generation of technology. During the transition the increasing speed of microelectronics may slow significantly or even stop for years...or decades...

how dependant are we on this constant doubling of speed and memory? How dependant will we become? We seem to take it for granted... we always joke that our computer was obsolete the moment we took it out of the store... what will happen when that isnt the case ...? Will it impact society?

Does a cessation of Moore's law pose a threat to our economy, our technology? I would like to hear your thoughts on this subject...

Another question is... do we NEED to keep getting smaller and faster??

I would like to know what those of you in aerospace and communications think, and those of you that use your computer as a household appliance... What DO we need and what WILL we need?