Miniaturization: enabling technology for the new millenium

The history of semiconductor devices has been characterized by a constant drive towards lower dimensions in order to increase integration density, system functionality and performance. However, this is still far fi am being comparable with the performance of natural systems such as human brain. The challenges facing semiconductor technologies in the millenium will be to move towards miniaturization. The influence of this trend on the quntum sensing of infrared radiation is one example that is elaborated here. A new generation of infrared detectors has been developed try growing layers of different semiconductors with nanometer thicknesses. The resulted badgap engineered semiconductor has superior performance compared to the bulk material. To enhance this technology further, we plan to move from quantum wells to quantum wire and quantum dots.