|
Showing 1 - 3 of
3 matches in All Departments
A modern microelectronic circuit can be compared to a large
construction, a large city, on a very small area. A memory chip, a
DRAM, may have up to 64 million bit locations on a surface of a few
square centimeters. Each new generation of integrated circuit-
generations are measured by factors of four in overall complexity
-requires a substantial increase in density from the current
technology, added precision, a decrease of the size of geometric
features, and an increase in the total usable surface. The
microelectronic industry has set the trend. Ultra large funds have
been invested in the construction of new plants to produce the
ultra large-scale circuits with utmost precision under the most
severe conditions. The decrease in feature size to submicrons -0.7
micron is quickly becoming availabl- does not only bring
technological problems. New design problems arise as well. The
elements from which microelectronic circuits are build, transistors
and interconnects, have different shape and behave differently than
before. Phenomena that could be neglected in a four micron
technology, such as the non-uniformity of the doping profile in a
transistor, or the mutual capacitance between two wires, now play
an important role in circuit design. This situation does not make
the life of the electronic designer easier: he has to take many
more parasitic effects into account, up to the point that his ideal
design will not function as originally planned.
A modern microelectronic circuit can be compared to a large
construction, a large city, on a very small area. A memory chip, a
DRAM, may have up to 64 million bit locations on a surface of a few
square centimeters. Each new generation of integrated circuit-
generations are measured by factors of four in overall complexity
-requires a substantial increase in density from the current
technology, added precision, a decrease of the size of geometric
features, and an increase in the total usable surface. The
microelectronic industry has set the trend. Ultra large funds have
been invested in the construction of new plants to produce the
ultra large-scale circuits with utmost precision under the most
severe conditions. The decrease in feature size to submicrons -0.7
micron is quickly becoming availabl- does not only bring
technological problems. New design problems arise as well. The
elements from which microelectronic circuits are build, transistors
and interconnects, have different shape and behave differently than
before. Phenomena that could be neglected in a four micron
technology, such as the non-uniformity of the doping profile in a
transistor, or the mutual capacitance between two wires, now play
an important role in circuit design. This situation does not make
the life of the electronic designer easier: he has to take many
more parasitic effects into account, up to the point that his ideal
design will not function as originally planned.
|
|