EE Times' 20 hot technologies for 2012

12/6/2011 7:47 AM EST

I agree totally that memristor practically applies to any two-terminal varistor with memory effect.

12/6/2011 7:54 AM EST

EUV LLC founded in 1997, now 15 years later, couldn't overcome the issues that should have discouraged even starting on it.

12/6/2011 7:58 AM EST

The thinness of the 3DIC wafer and the flexibility of printed/plastic electronics makes me think of soft/transparent electronics. Mechanical testing would have to become involved.

12/6/2011 12:58 PM EST

Which technologies did we miss? Send in your hot technologies to track in 2012!

12/6/2011 5:39 PM EST

20 pages ... just so you can get more click revenue. Pppptttt! Just put the list on one page, and links to pages with full details. That way
- I get the info I want
- I only get the ads that are relevant
- EE Times actually gets me to click on more than one page
- Your ad customers actually get relevant views
- (hint, hint) more click through for you

At this point I don't care what the other 19 technologies are -- the EE Times page layout fails because you are wasting our time.

12/6/2011 7:02 PM EST

Great list EE Times team, congrats! Having said I have some issues with it ;-)...first it would be better to have 10 technologies, not 20. Most of us having short attention span have difficulty counting beyond 10, see Letterman for good entertainment value...it feels you are trying to play safe and secure all possible bets...I wish the list contained only technologies that are disruptive...there are a few on the list (40/100 Gb for example) that are just simple extensions of what is currently available, in this particular case I would rather propose photonics interconnects (see Luxtera, Intel, IBM) although this is probably more than 1 year out...a few ideas could be merged, like carbon nanotubes and graphene, it is broadly speaking the same thing...regardless I enjoy the list a lot, I hope you will follow up a year from now how well you did with your predictions...Kris

12/6/2011 7:31 PM EST

Wondeful list! This list is has much more evolved as compare to list from last year.

12/6/2011 8:23 PM EST

What might be missing? (answering Junko's question)...I feel that Watson, Siri and other AI systems will be a big story in 2012...also, would like to see something on bio...Kris

12/6/2011 9:10 PM EST

let's get one thing straight for good - the plural of 'die' is 'dice'.

12/6/2011 9:25 PM EST

I've seen this statement many places recently - "energy is never lost but simply transformed from one form to another" - that's true and very comforting, and unfortunately not much good to us. 'Free Energy' IS diminished if entropy is increased - when everything has finally reached the same temperature (in a few tens or hundreds of billions of years from now) all of the energy that there ever was will still be there, but you won't be able to run a heat engine to convert any of it into mechanical 'work'.

12/6/2011 9:33 PM EST

Not sure I follow Dick...when my car converts chemical energy in a gas tank to a mechanical movement of my vehicle, I really do not care whether entropy is increasing in the process...sure, it does, and eventually it all will have the same temperature but personally I am going to worry much more about my own death first before worrying about death of universe...entropy increase every step in our life, when you dissolve sugar cube in your tea for example, but we still drink tea though...Kris

12/6/2011 10:34 PM EST

MEMS, I certainly agree. But the Memristor thing is still wishy!

12/6/2011 10:59 PM EST

Yes, MEMs and memristors are strange animals put together...MEMs had been developed over 20 years or more, had been used in air bags for several years but are now experience wide-spread adaption in many applications...memristor on the other hand is a new beast, very recently discovered (although theoretically predicted by Chua many years ago) and it remains to be seen whether anything practical can be build using that technology...Kris

12/7/2011 1:26 AM EST

I am sure Bluetooth low energy missing in this list. BLE definitely will gain momentum in 2012 with its wide range of applications like HID, health, proximity etc

12/7/2011 1:05 PM EST

I read the list again and would like to suggest splitting the list into two categories: established technologies that will have significant commercial impact in 2012 and novel technologies that might make it to commercial world in the future but will not have meaningful dollar impact next year.

In the first category I see: MEMs, NFC, Processors/GPU (it is really one story), LTE and Smart Grids (pick up will be slow but utilities are huge).

In the second category I would assign: WSN/Internet of Things (again, this is just one story), Plastics, printed electronics, Graphene, AMOLED, mobile OS, energy harvesting and 3-D ICs.

I am not certain about: solar conversion (too vague), next gen non-volatile memory (lots of research but nothing close to production), EUV (I have been reading about it for too long), white space radio (depends what spectrum regulators do), 40/100 GbE (I see that as incremental improvements).

I would add: artificial intelligence (Watson, Siri, etc) and bio-sensors.

Perhaps it would be exciting to establish some metrics on how successful these predictions are and measure them at the end of 2012? Or have all readers voting for their favorite theme? Kris

12/7/2011 3:52 PM EST

One item I would've added to the list is rechargeable batteries. Some very exciting research in using silicon nanowires in the anode of a lithium ion battery promises to increase battery capacity by 10x and reduce charging time by 10x.

These batteries are still a few years away from commercialization, but they will revolutionize mobile electronics, EV/HEV, remote sensing, medical electronics -- pretty much every device that runs on battery power.

12/7/2011 3:56 PM EST

@iniewski

Thanks for you weighing, sorting and consideration of the list.

A metric could be the number of times we write stories including each particular buzz word during 2012.

Then at the end of year just hit the search function and see how many occurences in the last 12 months. That could be your job Kris! :D

But we might have a case of self-fulfilling prophecy.

Or maybe the readers would care to vote, which would be a bit harder to organize.

12/8/2011 12:03 AM EST

I got to 8 but then couldn't stand the clicking any more.

12/8/2011 4:18 AM EST

out of 20 listed printed electronics and OLED 40 inches will be a hit the market soon.

12/8/2011 4:19 AM EST

We Live to see them, Hopefully.

12/8/2011 10:12 AM EST

I agree @jbusco, first time I read the story I clicked to 10 and gave up...needed fresh hand for more clicking later on...EE Times team: pls take a note: too much clicking or make your list limited to 10 ;-)...Kris

12/8/2011 3:57 PM EST

thank you Nic, great feedback...I think some form of polling, using Face-book like function would be a lot of fun, and you might see higher readers participation...each vote would be highly individually biased opinion but I am sure there is some wisdom in crowds and the results could be interesting...plus it goes with a social connectivity theme that we all read and write so much about it...Kris

12/8/2011 3:58 PM EST

A technology which I think is new in a way and will have an important use is Bluetooth Low Energy. And medical sensors will have high demand. It’s interesting that what is mentioned in this article in regards Ethernet wired connection, are we approaching the limit of physics? This made me think that perhaps we’re in an era of technology… the era of silicon… in order to transcend the limits imposed by the physics of this we would have to jump to a new wagon, graphene? Quantum computing? Electron entanglement perhaps?

12/8/2011 4:10 PM EST

@Luis, the future of faster Ethernet technology (beyond 100 Gb/s) is pretty clear: silicon photonics. The only question is how soon will it happen, in 5 or 10 years? Eventually we will get WDM links straight to the chip, IO bandwidth at that point will no longer be a limitation...Kris

12/9/2011 4:25 PM EST

Well, 2012 is just one year, so you can't expect too much change in just that time. But I have high hopes for 3D printing, so-called, which is the first step in what Star Trek calls the "replicator" (IIRC). If we remember that Star Trek "invented" the personal cell phone, it should not be a big leap to move on with a real replicator.

There are some overhyped items on the list, though. One is, IoT. Not only overhyped, but a picture that makes little sense (e.g. "IP to Ethernet bridge - huh?). Another is LTE. FYI, telephony has been pushing packets rather than analog circuits for decades already. The analog part, if at all, is only between a CO and the home legacy analog telephone. It doesn't take LTE to do this. OLED? I've been hearing how it was going to revolutionize displays for so many years that I'm skeptical about a sudden burst in 2012.

And there were probably others, but sorry, I'd have to flip pages again to remember them!

12/9/2011 8:36 PM EST

Data analytics will be disruptive because companies will use data to refine products and get more intimate with consumers

visit: smarttechnologyworld.com. Focusing on this growing trend of intelligent systems, connectivity, and big data

12/12/2011 2:30 AM EST

Don't forget MEMS oscillators - The market for this crucial timing component is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 60% per year between now and 2015. (Yole Developpement).

12/12/2011 7:36 PM EST

I think the field of Bioelectronics will see some interesting development in the near future.

12/14/2011 10:31 AM EST

Theres a new prophylactic technology believe it or not and its going to corner the arket. I cant tell you what it is yet but remember these words.

12/17/2011 10:41 AM EST

"The internet of things" sounds like a beginning of a horrible science fiction. Everything we use will be accessible and controlled through internet. And a huge network of even the simplest items may produce unexpected "emerging phenomenon".

12/18/2011 1:30 PM EST

i would say it a sizzling hot article. However some kind of condensed information or overview would have helped.

12/21/2011 8:55 AM EST

These emerging technologies are likely to dwarf whatever technologies are being used today. The Plastic electronic will make it environment friendly by making the disposable gadgets wherever the expected lifespan is limited. The Graphene and solar cell technologies will bring in new efficiencies in energy conversion and wireless sensors and energy harvesting technologies will be helping to reduce the carbon emissions across the globe. The 100 G/bits networks will make today's networks look like snails !

Just Amazing at what pace the technology is moving.

12/29/2011 9:52 AM EST

Ahh internet of things are cool. Someday we may accidentally type the url of a lightbulb in someone else house :)

2/11/2012 11:45 PM EST

I feel quantum computing is missing from the list. There is lot of debate on effects of quantum computers on security related aspects.

2/12/2012 11:05 AM EST

True, there are some discussions on quantum computing but the subject matter remains highly controversial. It will take at least 5 years in my opinion until we see QC in real applications...Kris

2/17/2012 2:33 PM EST

i want to know more about the MEM'S can any suggets me the link ...............