Future Trends in Microelectronics

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Nanomanufacturing for Electronics or Optoelectronics

M. J. Kelly

Department of Engineering, Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics, University of Cambridge, 9 JJ Thomson Avenue, CB3 0FA, Cambridge, United Kingdom; MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand

1 Introduction

Artefacts in widespread use in electronic and optoelectronic systems have been manufactured by low-cost, high-volume processes. To get to that stage, the understanding and design of the artefact and the choice of materials are such that several key attributes apply¹:

• The artefacts exhibit performance that is superior to what went before, or are otherwise much cheaper for the same performance.
• A high yield to an acceptable tolerance is achieved, with in-batch uniformity and interbatch reproducibility.
• A functional simulator is available for reverse engineering during development and right-first-time design in production.
• The artefacts are reliable and have an adequate service lifetime.

While we recognize these features, for example, in products for mainstream applications, we also note their absence in many, but not all, nanoscale artefacts made with comparable fabrication technologies such as deposition, etching, and lithography.

In practice, one can apply also this argument to complex molecules as nanoscale artefacts. If one translates six-sigma quality into four or five-nines purity, only a few relatively simple ...