Silicon devices - past, present, and future

In the following pages, we will review the current status and the prospects for silicon semiconductor devices and process technologies. At present, the 16 M DRAM is passing mass prduction peak, and 64 M DRAM startedmass production. In addition, a fully operational 256 M DRAM has been developed at research level. Furthermore, new silicon devices with a minimum feature size in the similar to 0.1 mu m are under development. This minimum feature size is less than half the physical limit of 0.2 similar to 0.3 mu m predicted by B. Heoneinsen and C. Mead 20years ago. This limitation and various other obstacles to the development of semiconductor engineering are the topics of this paper. These obstacles include; devices issues of sub-quarter micron size, device scaling problems near 0.1 mu m, technical development related to 0.1 mu m lithography and etching, high and low dielectric materials for the higher density, higher speed devices, aad dielectric planarization. And in summary, we present a table which illustrate the current research direction and future prospects for device fabrication limits.