A systems analysis of the fundamental physical laws that will eventually restrict the evolution of all electronic systems is presented. To formulate the analysis, a logical framework based on a minimum set of three critical hardware parameters is constructed. These parameters serve as variables in the quantification of the physical laws as they affect electronic systems. The parameters to reduce the array of fundamental constraints to simple mathematical relationships have been chosen, which can be plotted into the space spanned by the parameter set. The mathematical relationships, together with operational criteria such as noise margins and package thermal resistance, partition this space into allowed and forbidden regions. By placing current systems into the allowed region, it is shown that current technology is approaching several fundamental limits simultaneously. It is clear from this analysis that the approach to systems design will have to be integrated to include all levels in the system package, in order to optimize the performance of the system as a whole. The properties that a systems package must possess if it is to successfully combat these approaching limits is discussed.
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