As scaling of silicon integrated circuit technology approaches the point of diminishing returns, and proposals for successor technologies proliferate, there will be a growing need for critical assessment of new and unconventional approaches to information processing. New tools will be needed to gauge the ultimate potential of would-be successor technologies to reliably process information at speeds and circuit densities exceeding those that will have been achieved in silicon at the end of scaling. This program aims to develop such tools through extension and application of physical information theory, bringing the power of this theoretical approach to bear on the practical assessment of emerging electronic information processing technologies. Exploration of fundamental limits on signal fidelity and the physical costs of information processing (e.g. in heat dissipation) in technologically relevant settings will receive the highest priority. Success in this program will provide useful approaches for evaluating the information processing capabilities and resource requirements of emerging technologies - including but not limited to charge-based nanoelectronics - and will promote understanding of the physical aspects of information processing and appreciation of their practical consequences.
