T he great flood is already under way. Data packages dash around the globe at the speed of light via satellites and glass-fibre networks and are transformed into radio programmes, television films, telephone conversations or columns of figures in the terminals. The flood of data turns into a flood of information. In order to make this possible and also manageable, technological principles are required which can no longer be achieved today by simple formulae.
Basic research is necessary to accommodate the present and future needs of the information age.
E ver since construction of the first transistor in 1947 headlong miniaturization has continued until today. Chips the size of a fingernail now provide space for millions of transistors and other components. How well the structures were produced is shown under microscopes which can even image individual atoms. Spatial arrangements instead of the previous surface configurations are also possible. The speed at which the signals are processed could be raised enormously in such circuits.