Nanoscale Technology

About this programme

Microelectronics has had tremendous development during last decades broadening the field of applications in many directions. Miniaturization is a driving force for an astounding progress of microelectronics. For the last four decades the undergoing technical revolution in microelectronics is well described by “Moore’s law”, according to which, every 3 years a new generation of integrated circuits appears, in which the number of components on the chip increases 4 times (or doubles every 18 months). Such a remarkable rate of miniaturization was demanded by industry, because the reduction of dimensions went hand-in-hand with an increase in performance and a decrease in the cost of the device. Modern integrated circuits may contain several milliards transistors with a minimum feature size less than 100 nanometers (0.1 micrometers). This would not have been possible without development of thin film technology, nanoprocessing, and material science. A great many sophisticated instruments and techniques, developed to process and characterize thin films and surfaces, have already become indispensable in virtually every research area and high-tech industry. While the major exploitation of thin films is associated with microelectronics, there are numerous and growing novel applications in communication, optical electronics, energetics, coating, data storage, etc. The existing microtechnology is approaching its physical limit and major technological breakthroughs in terms of processes and materials will be required in a near future, as device sizes decrease below ~45 nm, ie., in a new-