Physical Limits in Semiconductor Electronics

Abstract

Although the limitations of the methods of lithography in use at a particular time are easily recognized and attract substantial attention, experience shows that technological ingenuity keeps pushing them to ever-smaller dimensions. There seems to be no fundamental reason to expect that lithographic limits will not continue to recede. The limits to the advance of miniaturization are to be found in the ability of materials to withstand high electric fields and in the ability of packaging technology to remove heat from active components and provide for power distribution, signal interconnection, and flexible mechanical assembly.