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# 38
 
 

Ernst von Siemens announced in April 1952 the first plant for the production of semiconductors in Germany. At that time it was unforeseeable what developments he would trigger off. It was the start of the semiconductor industry in Germany.

1 - Since then, more German companies [have]  joined the semiconductor business: Telefunken (world largest supplier of ICs),  Eurosil and many others. American and Japanese companies soon started there own semiconductor fabs in Germany to have better access to the European market: Silicon Valley Bavaria was born. This was happening in the eighties and nineties. And the plant constructed by Siemens 50 years ago continues to play a part in this development process. But today, it is called Infineon Technologies. and the original total of 30 employees has become 30,000 at 29 locations worldwide.

2 - Between 1954 and 2000, worldwide sales of the entire industry increased 40,000 times over from five million US Dollars to200 billion US Dollars. From a technical point of view, the development has also been spectacular the entire computing volume for the first moon landing in 1969 could now be handled by a conventional laptop. That also involves the continuous miniaturization of the components. 1GByte of memory, today occupies the size of two credit cards, 30 years ago it would have required 700m2 and the electricity supply of an entire village. Whether for traffic control, telecommunications, information processing or in the programmable coffee machine, the ever smaller and faster components have now become an indispensable part of our everyday life. But that is only possible because prices have not increased linearly with performance, on the contrary. No other sector is characterised by a price erosion comparable to that which the semi-conductor industry has experienced since its start. Whereas in 1972, for the equivalent of around 80,000 Euro, you had the choice between a detached house or I Mbit of memory, the equivalent value of this memory volume today of just a few cents corresponds to a single piece of chewing gum. According to Ulrich Schumacher, Chief Executive Officer of Infineon Technologies, companies involved in the market can only absorb a continuous decline in prices on this scale through continuous increases in productivity.

3 - For the future too, semiconductor research is preparing revolutionary developments for practically all areas of life. Whether it be medicine, where appropriately programmed microchips, for example, contribute to the early detection of cancer, or in the area of security solutions, where microprocessors make it possible to produce secure identification documents, the diversity and chances of the practical applications are just as unforeseeable today as they were 50 years ago.

Adapted from Siegfried W. Best, EPN, May 2002
 
 

A/ Word and phrase building

• unforeseeable (introduction)

can predict it ?
can know what happened before?
can discuss it ?

• Something ‘unforeseeable’ is something that

can be predicted ?
cannot be predicted ?
will certainly take place ?
 

§3?. Read this part of a sentence " Whether it be [= is] medicine, where appropriately programmed microchips, for example, contribute to the early detection of cancer, or in the area of security solutions "

b/ Rewrite the same idea: Whether it be [= is] medicine, where  _______________________     that are _____________________     ______________________ = in an _______________________ way , for example, contribute to...
 

B/ Use of context

• IC (§1) probably means

• fabs (§1) probably means

• worldwide (§1) :We know that Siemens began with one factory and now there are 29 (factories) ‘worldwide’ Does it mean:

C/ Word study

Expressing increase / decrease

Verbs: to increase; grow; rise; climb <> to decrease; reduce; cut; cut down; lower; drop; fall
Nouns : growth; increase; rise; drop; fall; decrease
Collocations: to increase / decrease BY x%; to increase / decrease from ... to ...

Study the two graphs showing current and supply voltage requirements for microprocessors and then complete with words from the list above.  (Each word can be used only once)
 
 

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

 Click here for full  size graphs      graph 1: Power Requirements     graph 2 : Power supply Voltage

Current requirements have  ..... almost in direct proportion to the  ..... in clock speed. If Intel predictions are right, using today’s technology will result in the surface temperature of components  ..... to the temperature of the sun’s surface. However in order to  ..... power dissipation , each new generation of microprocessor has enormously  ..... voltage levels. On figure 1 we can notice that until 1995 there was limited  ..... . There was even temporary  ..... with the 286 and 386 processors when the power requirement  ..... to the levels of the 8008. However, with Pentium 3 and future types of processors, the  ..... will be exponential. Figure 2 clearly shows the  ......
 
 

D/ Other words

§2 Are you sure you understand these words ?

handle
involve
require
supply: is it a noun or a verb here ?
whether ... or ...

Right or wrong?

Introduction

• Siemens was Germany’s most important semiconductor manufacturer
• In 1952, nobody could imagine how much such an industry would develop.

• Many other German semiconductor companies have been created
• Most of them have branches in Japan and the USA (especially in Silicon Valley)
• Siemens no longer exists
• Siemens has grown to be a huge international company

• This paragraph explains the evolution of the semiconductor industry:
• Sales have grown spectacularly
• Technology has also evolved spectacularly
• The first moon landing in 1969 required an enormous amount of calculations and we can imagine engineers had to use the world’s most powerful computers whereas today could easily do the same job with an ordinary PC.
• Prices has also fallen spectacularly
• Industries are able to produce very cheap components only because their productivity has risen up.

§3   Right or wrong?

• New inventions and discoveries will soon appear on the market
• Medicine is likely to benefit from this technology
• Thanks to semiconductors security will improve
• It is already possible to imagine what applications will be coming on the market in a few years’ time.

A/ Preterit and present perfect

• Pick up the verbs in the preterit and present perfect in the following sentences

Which of these sentences refer to
a/ a precise moment in the past ?
b/ a period of time that began in the past BUT stretches until TODAY

In § 2 you can read "Between 1954 and 2000, sales increased 40,000 times

• Compare these two sentences :

Which sentence

• exclusively refers to the past?
• evokes the present consequence of a past action?
• means that prices remained very high for many years ?
• suggests that prices are still decreasing ?

Siemens ( to build) ________________the first German semiconductor plant in 1952 and the firm (to grow) ____________________ to 30,000 employees by now. Soon after Siemens, Telefunken (to join) ____________________ the business and today it (to become) ___________________ one of the world’s leaders in IC. Since the early days, worldwide sales ( to rise) ______________________ from $5m to $200 billion. In recent years, the semiconductor industry (to experience) ______________________ exponential growth due to the fact that prices ( to drop) _________________ sharply. For instance, back in the 70’s, 1 Mbit of memory ( to cost) __________________ as much as a house while its price (to be cut down) _________________ to a few cents.
 

B/ Opposition and contrast

a/ Pick up a link word expressing contrast in the second half of § 2

b/ In the following list which words express contrast: however, instead of, since, and yet, moreover, while, therefore
(Note that some of theses words may have other meanings and uses.)

c/ read these sentences (§2) "1GByte of memory, today occupies the size of two credit cards." // "30 years ago it would have required 700m2 and the electricity supply of an entire village."
What relationship is there between the two sentences: cause ? consequence ? opposition? purpose?

d/ rephrase the sentence using one of the words above (list b)

e/ Write sentences expressing contrast. between

• the number of employees at Siemens in 1952 and today
• the sales of semiconductors between 1954 and 2000
• the increase of productivity and the decrease of prices
• the cost of memory in the 70’s and today

C/ Enable / allow / make it possible

• Compare:

in a/ we do NOT mention who is able to produce the documents
in b/ we say who is able to produce the documents

• Another example:

Rephrase with allow / enable/ make it possible

• A simple laptop >> it handles all the computing volume for the first moon landing in 1969
• A module the size of two credit cards >> it stores 1Gbyte
• Enormous research investments >> industrialists prepare revolutionary developments
• Special microchips >> they detect cancer
• Miniaturisation >> consumers have cheap and convenient equipment

Imagine you have been asked to write about the development of the semiconductor industry. You have decided to use some of the information of the table below:
 

	In the past	Today
Staff  at Siemens	30	30,000
Sales of semiconductors	$ 5 million	§ 200 billion
Cost of 1 Mbit of memory	80,000 euros	< 1 euro

1 - First draft. Use the words between brackets correctly

1. The semiconductor industry in Germany ( to be born) in 1952.
2. Since then, the semiconductor industry ( to grow) enormously
3. For instance, Siemens (to develop) from 30 to 30,000 employees
4. In the early 70’s, 1 Mbit of memory (to cost) (=) a house
5. Today, it (to cost) (< one euro)
6. In the last 50 years, advances (to come) from miniaturization of components and from increases ( in? of?) productivity
7. Result: sales ( to amount) to $5 million in 1954
8. Sales (to rise up ) to $200 billion today.
9. We now use all kinds of devices that (equip / passive)  with microprocessors

• Sentences 1 and 2: avoid repeating ‘the semiconductor industry’ by linking the two sentences into one using a relative.
• Sentence 3: no changes
• Sentences 4 and 5: link them expressing contrast
• Sentence 6: use two compound nouns
• Sentences 6 and 7: delete ‘result’ and link the sentences expressing consequence
• Sentences 7 and 8: avoid repeating ‘sales’ by linking the two sentences into one using a relative.
• Sentence 9: use a compound adjective instead of  "devices that are equipped  with microprocessors"

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