Aspects and implications of system-on-a-chip communication circuits on future device and nanotechnology development

The projected complexity of future generation communication systems can be briefly defined as spectacular. Developing a technology and the associated devices to optimally implement such a communication system is a highly challenging and costly task. The risk is also considerable, and consists in finding the right path that will lead to the optimal results with a minimal cost. There are many aspects to be considered, but, a fundamental one is to find the optimal device characteristics that meet simultaneously the high-level circuit/system requirements. A customizable methodology to derive a device specification, starting from high-level circuit and system metrics, is proposed. Specifically, power dissipation aspects and their implications on the device characteristics are discussed.