Panel: "will 3D-IC remain a technology of the future... even in the future?"

If asked "who needs faster planes?" the vast majority of the 2.75 billion airline passengers (source: IATA 2011) would say that they do need faster planes, and that they need them right now. Still, the commercial aircrafts cruising speed has remained the same -- 800 km/hour -- over the last 50+ years, and after the sad end of the Concorde project, neither Airbus nor Boeing are seriously working on the topic. Along the same lines, when asked "who needs 3D-IC?", most IC designers say that they desperately need 3D-IC to keep advancing electronic products performance, whilst addressing the needs of higher bandwidth, lower cost, heterogeneous integration, and power constraints. Still, 3D-IC continues to be the technology of the future. What are the road blocks towards 3D-IC adoption? Is it process technology, foundry or OSAT commercial offering, or EDA, or the business economics that is holding 3D-IC on the ground? In the introductory presentation of this panel session, LETI Patrick Leduc will illustrate the state-of-the-art of commercial, mainstream 3D-IC. EPFL Professor Giovanni de Micheli will then moderate an industry and research panel, to understand what are the key factors preventing 3D-IC from becoming the technology of today.