IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2015 - 29

the semiconductor industry is currently facing.
The urge to maintain the innovation rate of progress that sustains
the semiconductor industry is one
of the prime objectives in ensuring
R&D efforts continue to provide necessary enhancements and innovations. Hence the existence of the
INC and IPWGN, where the objective
in this study is to document funding allocation effectiveness per a
well defined technical framework,
"research vectors," and to answer
numerous questions such as: "Was
funding spent well?," "Have research
gaps been fixed?," "How do global
funding profiles compare?,","Has the
mission been accomplished?"
Data gathering began in 2006.
An early analysis of the landscape
is shown in Figure 4, where major
gaps (underfunding) can be seen in
several research vectors. This was
the first such side-by-side comparison of funding intensity at a global
scale in the area of nanoscience,
nanotechnology and nanoelectronics. This first insight began a movement of internal regional discussions
that stimulated the initiation of programs (and redirected many existing
programs) in each region to reduce
such research vector omission.
Hence, by 2010, the number and
the relative magnitude of the gaps
was substantially reduced, as shown
in Figures 4 through 6. This "filling of
the gaps" continued.
A key observation is the regional
agreement of the most funded technical areas. For instance, all regions
continue to present "non-equilibrium" as the most underfunded
area, while areas such as materials/
devices and 0D/1D/2D materials are
most funded. After nearly a decade
of data collection, one could conclude that all regions agree that the
areas of opportunity to overcome
the grand challenges remain as
the "most funded" areas and least
JUNE 2015

opportunity with the "underfunded"
areas. Furthermore, this uncanny
resemblance of alignment in each
region is also a reflection of the
international agreement and influence that has occurred within the
INC, IPWGN, and ITRS. As such, not
only have these efforts allowed us
to track relative funding/opportunity,
but they have also been used as a
feedback mechanism in determining
top-down R&D funding effectiveness.
In summary, the IPWGN meetings have largely contributed to filling and reducing most of the gaps in
the research agenda when considering the combined efforts of all the
regions. Together with disseminating
this information, the IPWGN continues to scan and coordinate efforts
among global regions to ensure effective funding mechanisms towards
solving our grand challenges, to maximize effectiveness on a global scale.

Author Information
Kosmas Galatsis is with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), U.S.A.
Email: galatsis@gmail.com.
Paolo Gargini is with the International Technology Roadmap on
Semiconductors, U.S.A. Email: paologargini1@gmail.com.
Toshiro Hiramoto is with the Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo, Japan. Email: hiramoto@nano.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
Dirk Beernaert is with the European Commission, Brussels, Europe.
Email: Dirk.Beernaert@ec.europa.eu.
Roger DeKeersmaecker is with
IMEC, Leuven, Belgium. Email:
Roger.DeKeersmaecker@imec.be.
Joachim Pelka is with the
Fraunhofer-Group for Microelectronics, Berlin, Ger many. Email:
Joachim.Pelka@mikroelektronik.
fraunhofer.de.
Lothar Pfitzner is the faculty of
Engineering at the University of Erlan∕

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

gen-Nuremberg, Germany. Email:
lothar.pfitzner@iisb.fraunhofer.de.

Acknowledgment
The authors thank all International
Planning Working Group on Nanoelectronics (IPWGN) members.
IPWGN U.S. members include
Paolo Gargini, Barbara Goldstein,
David Seiler, Yumiko Takamori,
Kosmas Galatsis, and Phil Lippel.
IPWGN Europe members include
David Guedj, Roger De Keersmaecker, Adrian Ionescu, Joachim
Pelka, Lothar Pfitzner, Serge Tedesco, and Renzo Tomellini. IPWGN
Japan members include Hiroyuki
Akinaga, Toyohiro Chikyow, Noburu Fukushima, Toshiro Hiramoto,
Shintaro Sato, and Ken Uchida. In
addition, we would like to acknowledge the support and contributions
of the International Nanotechnology Conference on Communication
and Cooperation (INC) conference
series Executive, Program, and
Organizing Committee members.
U.S. INC members include Paolo
Gargini, Gernot Pomrenke, Mihail
Roco, David Seiler, Kosmas Galatsis,
Kang L Wang, Yumiko Takamori, Ian
Steff, Tom Theis, Robert Doering,
and Barbara Goldstein.
Europe INC members include Laurent Malier, Dirk Beernaert, Gilbert
Declerck, Hubert Lakner, Renzo Tomellini, Marcel Annegarn, Dominique
Thomas, Livio Baldi, Heico Frima,
Roger De Keersmaecker, Serge Tedesco, Norbert Lehner, Fred van Roosmalen, Joachim Pelka, David Guedj,
Jörg Stephan, and Jo De Boeck.
Japan INC members include Teruo
Kishi, Hideyuki Yamagishi, Tsutomu
Handa, Toshihiko Kanayama, Junichi
Sone, Naofumi Moriya, Toshio Baba,
Toshiro Hiramoto, Yasuhiro Tokura,
Michitaka Kubota, Ryosho Kuwae,
Hiroyuki Akinaga, Satoshi Tochiori,
Ichiro Hirata, Shigemitsu Kusuda, Hiroshi Iwata, Takahiro Shinada, Toyohiro
Chikyo, and Katsumi Suzuki.

http://www.fraunhofer.de

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