In the near future, experts predict silicon sensors will be everywhere, not only within electronic products and gadgets, but even inside the human body.

The ISSCC 2010 conference theme '"Sensing the future" brings the point home that magnetic, mechanical, chemical, light, temperature, bio and many other sensors are becoming a natural part of the semiconductor business.

Sensors already play a key role in electronics for medical and life sciences.

Now, sensors are becoming an integral part of digital systems which measure operating conditions and cope with device variability.

To that end if you are planning your conference attendance for 2010 you should include the ISSCC, as there is no other conference that gives results of research and provides direction as the International Solid State Circuits Conference.

There are always sessions on sensors and imagers and in 2010 papers on MEMS developments will also be prominent.

Meanwhile more mundane temperature sensors are used by an application to maintain optimal operating conditions.

A report by market research firm Databeans has the temperature sensors market contract by 18 percent this year due to a major slowdown in orders during the fourth quarter in 2008 which continued into the first quarter of 2009.

The end markets that impact this market dramatically are the PC market, automotive, consumer, and include the industrial market. In 2009, temperature sensor revenue is expected to come in at $711 million, according to Databeans.

As designers find ways to integrate rugged sensors into their systems the market will pick up. It's a matter of taking a perspective of what is coming at ISSCC and what is needed today and available off the shelf to solve design problems.