Materials in semiconductor processing for high speed circuits: from electrical to optical circuits

From the time in 1965 when ´Moore´s Law´ - doubling of circuit density every 18 months approximately was predicted, scaling of transistors has progressed in accordance with the law. This was primarily enabled by technological advances in manufacturing equipment that allowed the ´printing´ and manufacturing of smaller circuits. Occasionally, in-between, a new material was introduced in the manufacture of the circuits. However, from the 180 nm technology, new materials have been needed in every generation. As the circuit features get smaller, the necessity of new materials required becomes more apparent. The importance of these materials in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices will be illustrated in this paper along with some results.