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materials industry
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Moore and more: the increasing
importance of materials
Throughout the history of mankind, materials have been a defining factor in terms of
tools and technologies. From the Stone Age, through the Bronze and Iron ages,
materials have played a key role in human advancement. IQE’s Richard Hammond
and Rob Harper take a look at the way modern day materials continue to define
technological progress.
H
ad there been an “Moore’s Law” has continued to
electronics technology hold true for the last four decades,
roadmap at the start of the 1940s, it during which time the Semiconductor
may well have foreseen the coming Industry Association (SIA) has
of the “silicon age” with the evolution established a formal industry
from the thermionic valve to the roadmap to predict and forecast
semiconductor transistor. technology trends aimed at ensuring
continued development in the field of
Such a roadmap may even have semiconductors. This roadmap is
forecast the transition from Bardeen, known as the International
Brattain and Shockley’s first Technology Roadmap for
germanium based transistor to the Semiconductors (ITRS).
thousands of integrated silicon based
transistors from which the earliest For most of the interceding years
microprocessor chips were formed. since the ITRS was established, the
It was in 1965 that Gordon Moore of focus of attention has been on
Intel observed that the complexity of device scaling, with ever decreasing
integrated circuits increased feature dimensions being the key to
exponentially over time, roughly achieving greater levels of integration
“doubling” every two years. and improved transistor performance. high processing speeds and Low magnification
portability with its associated cross sectional
In recent years, it has become requirement for low power electron
apparent that physical limitations and consumption, has already led to the microscopy
spiraling fab costs means that widespread adoption of materials (XTEM) image of
continued reductions in feature size based solutions in the form of gallium the GeOI
cannot continue indefinitely. arsenide (GaAs) devices. Similarly, substrate,
The ITRS fully recognizes the the adoption of materials depicting a 20nm
limitations of continued scalability manipulation techniques such as Ge film
and recent roadmap updates clearly high-k dielectrics, strained silicon and transferred to an
indicate that the way forward for silicon on insulator signal a trend insulating silicon
future technological evolution is towards the industry entering a new dioxide layer
expected to be based on the materials era.
development of novel materials
based technologies which are In addition to high speed and low
Image of a 150mm diameter compatible with the pre-existing power consumption, next generation
Germanium –on-Insulator (GeOI) manufacturing infrastructure. applications are likely to demand
wafer, with a Ge film thickness of The increasing demand for radio integration of photonic and CMOS
20nm frequency (RF) wireless connectivity, functionality within a single chip, a
September 2009 www.compoundsemiconductor.net 31
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