a sector to conquer the infinitely small

Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for the internal market, has issued a double challenge to European semiconductor manufacturers. The first is to quadruple production volumes in the territory of the 27 in ten years. The second is to evolve towards the most advanced technologies. In chips, this is measured in nanometers (nano). That is to say 1 billionth of a meter, returning the grain of sand or pollen to the status of giant. The nano, a journey into the infinitely small, a permanent challenge to the laws of physics, a world where the 0s and 1s, which serve as the basis for all digital language, are no longer really 0s and 1s. revolution that is preparing will bring greater upheavals than those brought by the transition from the tube transistor to the microprocessor.

Since its inception, electronics has been driven by one idea: miniaturization. Manufacturing – engraving – smaller and smaller components has many advantages. When chip size shrinks…