ECE 290 Seminar: “Where The Semiconductor Industry Is Headed Over The Next 5, 10, 20 Years?”

Presented by: Dr. Victor Zhirnov, Product Ideation Head @ Applied Materials

Description: “Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are a primary engine of socioeconomic growth in the modern world. Electronic information processing and transmission are being further accelerated by the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The adoption of AI continues to expand at an unprecedented pace, driven by the exponential growth of data that must be generated, moved, stored, computed, communicated, secured, and ultimately transformed into actionable information for end users.

Today, ICT is undergoing several major “seismic shifts,” as outlined in the Decadal Plan for Semiconductors. One of the most significant challenges is the growing imbalance between the energy demands of information and communication technologies and the world’s capacity for energy production. This trend introduces substantial risks to future technological progress, particularly for AI systems, whose computational and data-processing requirements continue to increase dramatically. Addressing these challenges will require the discovery of fundamentally new paradigms capable of delivering orders-of-magnitude improvements in energy efficiency.

A second seismic shift is the widening gap between communication capacity and data generation. Modern society is characterized by near-ubiquitous connectivity, enabling continuous access to information, cloud storage, and cloud computing resources. The ability to access data from virtually anywhere and share it globally has transformed business operations, scientific research, and everyday life. However, the cloud-centric model relies heavily on the assumption of constant and reliable connectivity, an assumption that cannot always be guaranteed. At the same time, global data generation is growing faster than communication infrastructure can support, creating an increasing mismatch between information storage requirements and communication capabilities. Overcoming this challenge will require radical advances in communication technologies.

Inventing the next generation of computation and communication paradigms is undoubtedly a formidable challenge. Nevertheless, it is achievable if the right scientific questions are identified and the necessary resources are mobilized. Future ICT systems will require breakthrough innovations based on largely unexplored physical principles, spanning materials, devices, circuits, architectures, and system-level functions. Such advances have the potential to redefine the foundations of information processing and communication, enabling sustainable growth of AI and the broader digital economy.”

Bio: Victor Zhirnov is the Product Ideation Head at Applied Materials, where he leads the initiation of breakthrough innovation projects with the potential to enable major technology inflections across the semiconductor industry. His work focuses on identifying and advancing disruptive concepts that can shape the future of computing, communications, and advanced manufacturing.

Prior to joining Applied Materials, Dr. Zhirnov served as Chief Scientist at the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC). In that role, he was responsible for envisioning and developing long-term research directions for the semiconductor ecosystem, guiding collaborations between industry and academia in semiconductor technologies.

With more than 30 years of semiconductor experience, Dr. Zhirnov has made significant contributions across a broad range of disciplines, including materials science, process technology, device physics, and the exploration of the fundamental limits of semiconductor technologies.

Dr. Zhirnov has played a leading role in several major international technology roadmapping efforts. He served as Chair of the Emerging Research Devices Working Group for the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) and has also led the development of both the 2030 Decadal Plan for Semiconductors and the Microelectronics and Advanced Packaging Technologies (MAPT) Roadmap.

He earned an M.S. in Applied Physics from the Ural Polytechnic Institute in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 1989, and a Ph.D. in Solid State Electronics and Microelectronics from the Institute of Physics and Technology in Moscow in 1992.

Dr. Zhirnov has authored or co-authored approximately 200 technical papers and numerous contributions to books, reflecting his longstanding influence on semiconductor research, technology strategy, and innovation.

Hosted by: Professor Marco Rolandi & Professor Soumya Bose, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department

When: 10:40 to 11:45 AM PST

Location: Classroom E2-194

Zoom Link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/98247592428?pwd=iUrZFuvQ8ANPqirWLxC4DokeyvIUIz.1