Prospective Silicon Applications and Technologies in 2025

Today, practical semiconductor products are an integral part of our lives and the infrastructure of society, and this trend will continue in the future. New areas of application will expand into medical, environmental, and agriculture (food)-related fields in addition to the conventional information and communication technology (ICT)-related field. Low-cost semiconductor devices with advanced functions have thus far been realized by miniaturization. However, we are now approaching the physical limit of miniaturization, and also, the investment required for new semiconductor manufacturing facilities has become huge. Under such circumstances, we propose an approach based on semiconductor devices called microcube chips and ideas of semiconductor development, i.e., agile integration and “inch-fab.” Our approach is expected to contribute to expanding the range of companies that can fabricate semiconductor devices to include small-size companies, exploring new applications of semiconductor devices, and providing a wide variety of semiconductor devices at a low cost from the semiconductor industry.