That question will be addressed on Wednesday next (November 30th) when Dr Hans Mulder, Associate Director of Intel Research and Director of the Intel research network of university laboratories, delivers the next lecture in UCC's continuing Science Lecture Series, organised by Professor William Reville of the Faculty of Science. In a lecture titled: Where is Moore's Law Taking Us, Dr Mulder will suggest that while it is reasonable to predict that the rate of complexity and development of the silicon chip will continue in accordance with one of the most famous laws of modern computing, after that, things become a little less clear.

Smaller, faster and more complex chips will continue for quite a while, he adds, but producing them will be increasingly more difficult. New materials and new manufacturing processes will be required, and at some point, as yet undefined, (but probably after 2015), Moore's Law will no longer apply, and the computing industry will have to look to "very smart people with very smart solutions."

Dr Mulder says the likelihood is that scientists will apply physics at a fundamental level, utilizing the spin of electrons around the core of the atom, (spintronics), and single-electron transistors, to increase both computing speed and storage capacity. What all of this will mean for the ordinary end user is faster PCs and applications that will lead to digital electronics becoming a much more pervasive part of our everyday lives. The evidence will be in our cars, hospitals, homes, and in practically every other facet of our lives.

He predicts that in the area of wireless sensor networks, low-cost non-complex, but highly sophisticated systems, will be used to measure our physical world at the fine grain level- systems that will signal when maintenance of industrial plants is required, rather than doing it by rota, and sytems that will monitor the quality of our natural environment and control pipelines over vast distances as they carry vital services such as oil, gas, water and sewage. Moore's Law, has held good these 50 years, Dr Mulder says, and in almost every decade since, scientists have warned that the era of more complex, faster and smaller chips, was coming to an end. Finally, it may be about to happen, but not before another decade has passed. And then, a whole new world will begin to open up.

The lecture will be given in UCC's Boole Lecture Theatre 4 at 8 pm on Wednesday, 30 November. As always, members of the public are invited to attend and admission is free.

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