Many emerging technologies used for both the wiring and dielectric passivation layers in IC devices may only last a few generations, resulting in continued revenue growth of new materials. For many process steps, materials that are used for the 90nm and 65nm generations will continue to be used at the 45nm and 32nm generations. But as devices reach smaller geometries, many processes and materials have been pushed to the physical limits of their performance and will need to be replaced with more robust materials, or those that allow larger process windows.

(February 20, 2008) Research Triangle Park, NC — Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC), a university-research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies, has announced that the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the U. at Albany will serve as headquarters for a comprehensive research effort aimed at enabling nanoelectronics advances that are critical for the development of smaller, faster and cheaper computer nanochips amid the approaching limits of interconnect scaling.