Since the forties and through the next decade, many important advances were made in the field of microtechnologies; a significant one was the invention of transistors by Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley that fetched them the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956 (see Fig. 2.1). Transistor had a tremendous impact on computer design, replacing costly, energy-inefficient and unreliable vacuum tubes, as a device that could act as an electric switch. Another important advancement, upon which the current IC industry was built, was the oxide-masking process developed at Bell Labs in 1954 [1].

Not long after these inventions, the idea to extend this technology to more sophisticated geometries arose. In fact, miniaturised devices were already invented, but their dimensions were too large to be considered micro-devices.

Inspired by the performance of biological systems and their ability to perform functions and store information within their microscopic volumes, R. Feynman discussed the possibilities of making miniaturised mechanical devices. Although he was building on the techniques available during his time, Feynman made spectacular speculations about the development of the miniaturization industry in terms of both manufacturing and potential processing and operating problems [5,6].

Fig. 2.2 The first IC, invented in 1958 by Jack Kilby, Texas Instruments, contained a total of five components (transistors, resistors and capacitors)[3]. Today's Pentium-IV processor contains over 125 million transistors on it. [4].

By the 1970s, the IC industry had made considerable progress since its first appearance at Texas Instruments in the late fifties (see Fig. 2.2).

In a few decades the continuous advances involved a considerable improvement of productivity and quality of life through proliferation of computers, electronic communication and consumer electronics.

Most frequently cited trend in this development is probably the integration level achieved in the circuits, usually expressed as Moore’s Law, which states that the number of components per chip doubles every 2 years. Other principal trends are shown in Table 2.1.

Nowadays, society demands that the success achieved in the miniaturization of microelectronics should be extended to other fields. This miniaturization involves many improvements, mentioned as follows.

·         Energy and materials consumption during manufacturing;

·         Lightness and portability;

·         Increase of selectivity and sensitivity;

·         Use of more intelligent materials with structures at the nanoscale;

·         Taking advantage of scaling when scaling works in the micro domain (e.g. improved thermal management, etc.);

·         Minimally invasive techniques;

·         Exploitation of new effects through the breakdown of continuum theory in the micro domain;

·         Cost/performance advantages.

These technologies integrated into Micromanufacturing Technologies present an important role for the current and future industry. They bridge the gap between the nano and macro worlds and they are completely changing the thinking as to how, when or where products should be manufactured (e.g. on-site, on-demand, in the hospital operating room or on-board a warship).

Previous /  Next