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Special report: C-MOS enlarges its territory
World Abstracts on Microeleetronics and Reliability report "TV receiver analysis and existing standards critique," dated July 1974 and prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Engineering Sciences, readily admits, "Few pieces of electronic equipment of comparable complexity (to TV sets) including those developed at great expense for the military or space programs, achieve this level of reliability (expected operation of 6000 hr without repair)." Meanwhile, in December 1974 the U.S. Consumer Product
409
Safety Commission (CPSC) released part of a Bureau of Census survey estimating that TVs nationwide (blackand-white and color) were involved in 196,000 "fire incidents" per year. These contrasting comments raise an interesting question: How could electronic equipment---credited with space-age excellence--also be cast as the villain in a crusade against hazardous consumer products.
4. M I C R O E L E C T R O N I C S - - G E N E R A L
Physical limits in digital electronics. R. W. KEYES. Proc. IEEE 63, (5), 740 (1975). Miniaturization has steadily increased the economic usefulness of digital electronics through the past two decades. A variety of physical arguments are brought to bear on the question of how far miniaturization can be extended. The implications of the laws of quantum mechanics and thermodynamics for information storage are examined. The need for power dissipation in electrical information processing is demonstrated and the limits set on miniaturization by the problems of removing the heat thereby produced are estimated. Limits with origins in properties of the materials used to make electronic devices are reviewed. The potential performance of various technologies based on nonsemiconductor phenomena is estimated and compared with the limits found for planar silicon technology. Attempts are made to guess at all of the many unknown parameters that enter into broadly applicable quantitative expressions of the properties of logic circuitry so that actual values of the limits can be estimated.
Military IC standardization, acquisition and technology. B. REICH. Proc. Reliability and Maintainability Syrup. 5. M I C R O E L E C T R O N I C S
Washington D.C., p. 404, 28-30 January, 1975. Over the next few years, the total defense dollar procurement of integrated circuits, often called microcircuits, is expected to remain relatively constant. In contrast, the industrial market is expected to increase at an exploding rate. The result is that the military finds itself in an unfavorable position relative to its ability to procure microcircuits needed for the development and acquisition of major weapon systems, especially where its procurements are non-standard and fragmented so that they do not reflect the full Department of Defense buying power. In June 1973, the Joint Logistic Commanders formed an Ad Hoc Group followed by a Joint Technical Coordinating Group to delve into these and related problems primarily involving microcircuits. This paper presents the progress that has been made by these groups in alleviating the problems relating to microcircuit standardization, acquisition, and technology applications. Special report: C-MOS enlarges its territory. L. ALTMAN. Electronics. May 15, 1975 p. 77. Improved standard circuits have strengthened C-MOS's grip on process-control applications; greater chip complexity is opening up new jobs in communications, instruments, computers.
DESIGN
Operation and Characterization of Micronic and Submictonic MESFETs. R. LYON-CAEN and P. MOREL. Rev. Tech. Thomson-CSF. 7, (2) 365 (1975). (In French). The exposition deals first with the "simplified theory" of MESFETs based on a number of simplification hypotheses. The threshold voltage VT is defined in particular, as well as the physical condition for obtaining a "normally blocked transistor". The authors study the analytical expressions for current and capacitance, always in the case of simplification hypotheses, and end up with a novel formulation for the current that is compared with that for the collector current of bipolar transistors. The experimental parameters tied to the above theory are defined in order to enable them to be introduced into the IMAG 2 programme. Masking and duplication in the realm of 1 Itm wide lines. State of the art and prospects in optics and electronics. G. PIRCHER. Rev. Tech. Thomson-CSF 7, (1) 5 (1975). The paper describes micro-engraving processes suitable for producing lines about one micron wide by the planar method. The processes are applicable to the production of integrated circuits, microwave circuits on semi-conductor or piezoelectric materials, integrated optics, etc. The author, however, gives special consideration to: -----direct electronic masking, ---duplication by photoelectrons and X-rays, ---direct photorepetition. IC fabrication improvements combat hostile environments. L. J. GALLACE,S. GOTTESFELD and J. INGRASSIA. Electron. Engng., June 1975. p. 49. A new system of metallisation for integrated circuits in plastics packages
AND
CONSTRUCTION
overcomes many of the problems experienced with aluminium metallisation when products are subjected to severe environmental conditions.
Flatness measurements in semiconductor technology. W. JARISCH. Feinwerktechnik & Messtechnik 83 (5), 199 (1975). (In German). Precise geometry measurements have to be made over and over again during the course of manufacture of a silicon wafer. The author refers to such measurements and their importance at the various stages of production of a wafer, on its way from being silane to becoming a finished chip. The applicability of commonly known flatness measuring methods for semiconductor technology is discussed. The author introduces a recent optical method based on a combination of interferometric and moir6 techniques. Epoxy bonding for integrated circuits. B. M. PIETRUCHA and E. M. REISS. Electronic Production July/August, 1975. p. 22. Recent tests indicate that concern about the reliability of the epoxy die-attach method for integrated circuits is groundless. Epoxy provides a positive die-tosubstrate interface capable of withstanding a high degree of thermal and physical stress. Outgassing is shown to have no effect on circuit stability. On chemical cleaning for thermocompression bonding. P. H. HOLLOWAY and R. L. LONG JR. IEEE Trans. Parts, Hybrids & Packaging. PHP-11, (2) 83 (1975). The removal of a Cr203 contaminant oxide film from gold surfaces by aceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) etch and two different potassium iodide plus iodine (KI+I2) etchants was investigated using Auger electron spectroscopy and thermocompression (TC) bonding. It was shown that
409
Safety Commission (CPSC) released part of a Bureau of Census survey estimating that TVs nationwide (blackand-white and color) were involved in 196,000 "fire incidents" per year. These contrasting comments raise an interesting question: How could electronic equipment---credited with space-age excellence--also be cast as the villain in a crusade against hazardous consumer products.
4. M I C R O E L E C T R O N I C S - - G E N E R A L
Physical limits in digital electronics. R. W. KEYES. Proc. IEEE 63, (5), 740 (1975). Miniaturization has steadily increased the economic usefulness of digital electronics through the past two decades. A variety of physical arguments are brought to bear on the question of how far miniaturization can be extended. The implications of the laws of quantum mechanics and thermodynamics for information storage are examined. The need for power dissipation in electrical information processing is demonstrated and the limits set on miniaturization by the problems of removing the heat thereby produced are estimated. Limits with origins in properties of the materials used to make electronic devices are reviewed. The potential performance of various technologies based on nonsemiconductor phenomena is estimated and compared with the limits found for planar silicon technology. Attempts are made to guess at all of the many unknown parameters that enter into broadly applicable quantitative expressions of the properties of logic circuitry so that actual values of the limits can be estimated.
Military IC standardization, acquisition and technology. B. REICH. Proc. Reliability and Maintainability Syrup. 5. M I C R O E L E C T R O N I C S
Washington D.C., p. 404, 28-30 January, 1975. Over the next few years, the total defense dollar procurement of integrated circuits, often called microcircuits, is expected to remain relatively constant. In contrast, the industrial market is expected to increase at an exploding rate. The result is that the military finds itself in an unfavorable position relative to its ability to procure microcircuits needed for the development and acquisition of major weapon systems, especially where its procurements are non-standard and fragmented so that they do not reflect the full Department of Defense buying power. In June 1973, the Joint Logistic Commanders formed an Ad Hoc Group followed by a Joint Technical Coordinating Group to delve into these and related problems primarily involving microcircuits. This paper presents the progress that has been made by these groups in alleviating the problems relating to microcircuit standardization, acquisition, and technology applications. Special report: C-MOS enlarges its territory. L. ALTMAN. Electronics. May 15, 1975 p. 77. Improved standard circuits have strengthened C-MOS's grip on process-control applications; greater chip complexity is opening up new jobs in communications, instruments, computers.
DESIGN
Operation and Characterization of Micronic and Submictonic MESFETs. R. LYON-CAEN and P. MOREL. Rev. Tech. Thomson-CSF. 7, (2) 365 (1975). (In French). The exposition deals first with the "simplified theory" of MESFETs based on a number of simplification hypotheses. The threshold voltage VT is defined in particular, as well as the physical condition for obtaining a "normally blocked transistor". The authors study the analytical expressions for current and capacitance, always in the case of simplification hypotheses, and end up with a novel formulation for the current that is compared with that for the collector current of bipolar transistors. The experimental parameters tied to the above theory are defined in order to enable them to be introduced into the IMAG 2 programme. Masking and duplication in the realm of 1 Itm wide lines. State of the art and prospects in optics and electronics. G. PIRCHER. Rev. Tech. Thomson-CSF 7, (1) 5 (1975). The paper describes micro-engraving processes suitable for producing lines about one micron wide by the planar method. The processes are applicable to the production of integrated circuits, microwave circuits on semi-conductor or piezoelectric materials, integrated optics, etc. The author, however, gives special consideration to: -----direct electronic masking, ---duplication by photoelectrons and X-rays, ---direct photorepetition. IC fabrication improvements combat hostile environments. L. J. GALLACE,S. GOTTESFELD and J. INGRASSIA. Electron. Engng., June 1975. p. 49. A new system of metallisation for integrated circuits in plastics packages
AND
CONSTRUCTION
overcomes many of the problems experienced with aluminium metallisation when products are subjected to severe environmental conditions.
Flatness measurements in semiconductor technology. W. JARISCH. Feinwerktechnik & Messtechnik 83 (5), 199 (1975). (In German). Precise geometry measurements have to be made over and over again during the course of manufacture of a silicon wafer. The author refers to such measurements and their importance at the various stages of production of a wafer, on its way from being silane to becoming a finished chip. The applicability of commonly known flatness measuring methods for semiconductor technology is discussed. The author introduces a recent optical method based on a combination of interferometric and moir6 techniques. Epoxy bonding for integrated circuits. B. M. PIETRUCHA and E. M. REISS. Electronic Production July/August, 1975. p. 22. Recent tests indicate that concern about the reliability of the epoxy die-attach method for integrated circuits is groundless. Epoxy provides a positive die-tosubstrate interface capable of withstanding a high degree of thermal and physical stress. Outgassing is shown to have no effect on circuit stability. On chemical cleaning for thermocompression bonding. P. H. HOLLOWAY and R. L. LONG JR. IEEE Trans. Parts, Hybrids & Packaging. PHP-11, (2) 83 (1975). The removal of a Cr203 contaminant oxide film from gold surfaces by aceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) etch and two different potassium iodide plus iodine (KI+I2) etchants was investigated using Auger electron spectroscopy and thermocompression (TC) bonding. It was shown that