Sony 2003 Annual Report Download - page 47

Sony Corporation Annual Report 2003 45Sony Corporation Annual Report 2003 45
Research and Development
In a world in which products are becoming increasingly
digitized, Sony is building an R&D framew ork designed
to concentrate high functionality and added-value
into devices.
One of the technologies that Sony is strategically
developing in preparation for the future is the next
generation microprocessor called Cell. In order to de-
ploy, on a wide scale, such devices as a next generation
computer entertainment system and consumer electron-
ics, Sony Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment
Inc. have worked with IBM Corporation and Toshiba
Corporation since the spring of 2001 to jointly develop
Cell, which will form the foundation of the broadband
network era. These four companies are also working
together to develop semiconductor manufacturing
process technology that uses design rules as minute as
50 nanometer on 300mm wafers. Such technological
advances w ill be necessary to produce leading edge LSIs
such as future Cell chips.
Another core, next generation technology is func-
tional device technology that combines the functions of
several products. Such technology includes technolo-
gies that correspond to the five senses, like the CCD,
which resembles the sense of sight, interface technol-
ogy such as display devices, and wireless technology
that performs information transfer functions. These
technologies are at the core of AV technologies and
have played a central role in making possible such
sophisticated Sony robots as the entertainment robot
AIBO and the biped robot.
In addition to this R&D focused on the next genera-
tion, over the mid- to long-term, Sony w ill exert more
energy on the development of material and process
technology key to new hardware that goes beyond the
static assumptions of the past. Process technology is on
the verge of a new era in which precision is measured
in nanometers (one millionth of a millimeter) rather
than microns (one thousandth of a millimeter). To
achieve this level of precision, Sony is shifting from
classical physics to quantum physics. At the same time,
Sony is undertaking R&D that takes into account the
movement aw ay from the 20th Century era, centered
on silicon, to an era centered on carbon. Carbon
nanotubes, fullerenes and various organic materials
symbolize this new age. Sony’s R&D activities are also
part of the shift from inorganic materials and mechani-
cal engineering to biological response and biomolecular
emulation technologies such as biotechnology and
other life sciences.
Another R&D focus is batteries, an essential element
in the growth of mobile devices. Sony is studying
ways to use new materials to produce lightweight,
high-performance batteries, with a particular focus
on fuel cells.
In today’s world, R&D activities must be undertaken
with greater concern for environmental emissions and
impact on human sensibilities. In such an environment,
in M arch 2003, Sony established an Institute for
Environmental Research, directly overseen by head-
quarters, to centralize and promote research activities
involving recycling, environmental impact reduction
and other technologies.
Moreover, Sony is striving to develop products that
appeal directly to customers’ hearts and minds, inspire
emotions and attain a level of quality that cannot be
measured numerically.
Through inclusion in our products of fundamental
technologies born from these R&D activities, Sony will
continue to propose new styles of living which
exemplify the best in quality.
Biped robot