It is based on the StrongArm chip architecture that Intel acquired from DEC 18 months ago. Initial customers for the chip include Newbridge. Tunable lasers will reach the market within a year or so as backup for fixed wavelength lasers in WDM equipment. Fujitsu, Lucent, and Nortel are expected to come up with products. Researchers at Hitachi and Cambridge University have developed a new, stacked, transistor structure that can store charge , replacing the bulky capacitor.
Advantages are denser circuits and faster read-out.
Commercial development may be only several years away. Joe Jacobson and his students at MIT's Media Lab have developed electronic versions of paper and ink . Electrical signals applied to this mesh switch the particles to black or white, forming a images with a resolution as high as 600 dots per inch. The images can be altered at will. The display can be used for commercial signs, posters, and electronic books .