Overview

The invention of the transistor, closely followed by the invention of the monolithic integrated circuit, has revolutionized the electronics industry. Since the 1960s whole new industries have been created to manufacture semiconductor devices that range from pin-head-size diodes to microprocessor chips the size of postage stamps. While much of the technology for manufacturing ICs was adapted from earlier work on transistors and other discrete semiconductor devices, the fabrication of devices with microscopic features demanded new and improved lithographic methods and equipment. Billions of dollars have been spent on tools, equipment, and plant facilities, and millions of new jobs have been created around the world in fabricating and packaging these devices. Simultaneous advancements in computer technology and applications software merged with this improved process technology to make possible quantum leaps in device performance over the past 30 years.

In 1964, Gordon Moore, a founder of Intel Corporation, predicted that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit would double every 18 months, and that prediction has turned out to be accurate. Increases in circuit density have been accompanied by reductions in feature size. Design rule dimensions have decreased from tens of micrometers to a quarter of a micrometer. These dramatic size reductions have resulted in significant improvements in device speed and reliability as well as reductions in power consumption. Work is progressing on the next generation of ICs with dimensions smaller than one-fifth micrometer (0.18- ?m). Integrated-circuit prices continue to fall, illustrating textbook examples of economies of scale driven...