Position statement:

After the Gold Rush – Low Volume Biomedical Devices Creating High Value?

More than a decade ago we had seen a number of large semiconductor companies going bio – only a few of them have remained to have activities in this field. Moreover, a number of devices can be found in the literature for lots of different purposes such as bio molecule detection using hybridization assays, DNA sequencing, neurochemical monitoring, devices for cell sorting, cell manipulation and tissue assembly, various sorts of in-vitro and in-vivo neural tissue interfaces and BMIs, implantable devices for prosthetic purposes (cochlear, retina), deep brain and spinal cord stimulation, and many more. Whereas part of such devices have found their way to commercialization others have not. Why, under condition that results were solid and reasonable?

We have to realize that there are applications depending on the utilization of silicon and semiconductor technologies, which can create (commercial and ethical!) value in particular areas or – at the end of the day – for patients, i.e. humans, but do not fill semiconductor production lines.

Thus, we need to conquer such applications from a non-volume related standpoint. Are there valuable fields where use of CMOS is an enabler? Yes, clearly. Who can drive such fields? Let us think out of the box concerning business models driven not only by the semiconductor industry. How? Let us enhance interdisciplinary work approaches, learn to speak a language understood by different disciplines, and drive innovation by other means but only scaling transistor channel lengths.
 

About the panel member:

Roland Thewes received the Dipl.-Ing. degree and the Dr.-Ing. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany, in 1990 and 1995, respectively. In 1994, he joined the Research Laboratories of Siemens AG, where he was active in the design of non-volatile memories and in the field of reliability and yield of analog CMOS circuits. From 1997-1999, he managed projects in the fields of design for manufacturability, reliability, analog device performance, and analog CMOS circuit design. From 2000-2005, he was responsible for the Lab on Mixed-Signal Circuits of Corporate Research of Infineon Technologies focusing on CMOS-based bio-sensors, low voltage analog CMOS circuit design, and device-circuit interaction. From 2006 until March 2009, he was heading a department focusing on Advanced DRAM Core Circuitry in the Product Development Division of Qimonda. Moreover, since 2005 he also has been serving as a consultant of the Max-Planck Society in the area of CMOS-based neural imaging. Since April 2009, he is professor at TU Berlin focusing on electronic sensors and actuators for bio-sensing and neural interfacing purposes as well as on further CMOS-based sensor systems.

He has authored or co-authored more than 120 technical publications including book chapters, tutorials, invited papers, etc., and authored or co-authored a similar number of granted patents and patent applications.

He is a member of the Executive Committee of IEDM, of the Joint Steering Committee of ESSDERC/ESSCIRC, and of the Technical Program Committees of ISSCC and ESSCIRC. In the past he also served as a member of the Technical Program Committees of IEDM, IRPS, ESSDERC, and ESREF.

He is a recipient of the German President’s Future Award (2004), the ISSCC 2002 Jack Raper Award (2003), and recipient or co-recipient of 6 further paper and conference awards.

Dr. Thewes is Senior Member and Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE, member of the German Association of Electrical Engineers, and member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering.