The demands on the performance of electronic components for handheld consumer devices (e.g. cell phones, PDAs, GPS systems, audio/video players), industrial products (e.g. monitoring, paging and communication systems) and medical systems (e.g. blood pressure monitors) are requiring a combination of increased functionality, reduced power consumption (extended battery life) and compactness. The semiconductor industry is responding to these demands by reducing the process geometry to below 100nm.

GE Aviation, in recognition of this requirement, has teamed with IC Nexus, a company specialising in sub 100nm design and foundry processes to explore this growing area of interest for high performance ASICs.