Japanese researcher Tadahiro Ohmi is developing three-dimensional systems-on-chip VLSI chips he claims have ten times better performance than today’s chips and squeeze design and production time to 1/40, clean room space to 1/5 and production cost to 1/10 of what’s now required.

“As one of the target systems-on-chip, Ohmi described a 3-D SoC that integrates everything but the kitchen sink: all of the silicon processors, silicon memories, polysilicon functional semiconductors, amorphous-silicon image sensors, piezoelectric sensors, biosensors and communications blocks. By packing all these functions, Ohmi said, one chip can have a human’s five senses and will be able to provide a truly interactive interface for that person.”