Silicon Photonics: Fundamentals and Devices

1.2 VLSI: Past, Present, and Future Roadmap

The announcement of the first point contact transistor on December 23, 1947, marks the birth of the electronics era. Although the material used in this device and its improved version, the junction transistor, was Ge, it was soon felt that single-crystal silicon would be a better alternative. The first silicon bipolar transistor came in 1954. The concept of the IC was first explored in 1958, and its working was demonstrated by using discrete components. A few months later, an IC using planar technology was developed. The bipolar transistor technology was developed earlier and was applied to the first IC memory in the 1960s. Although bipolar transistors are the fastest at the individual circuit level, their large power dissipation and very low integration level (10⁴ circuits per chip), compared to today's VLSI standard, do not promote their use.

The control of conductivity in the surface of a semiconductor by an external electric field was proposed in the early 1930s. Attempts for conductivity modulation during the early part of the 1950s were not very successful. The first metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) using SiO₂ as the gate insulator on silicon substrate was fabricated in the 1960s. The complementary MOS (CMOS) transistor was fabricated in 1963, and its advantage of lower power consumption was firmly established. ...