More articles on material science

11/01/1996

More articles on material science

It is indeed a great pleasure to welcome you as Editor-in-Chief of the great Solid State Technology, Encyclopedia for Semiconductors, and congratulate you on becoming so. SST disseminates knowledge on the latest and innovative achievements. It inspires the onlooker to get involved in the area of his choice. It makes the generalist a specialist. It encourages the reader to refer to it again and again. The commercial information keeps the technologist up to date in production figures on a worldwide basis. It also shows how the trend is treading.

A regular reader of SST for the past decade or so, I have widened my perspective in microelectronics. Retracing the contents of the past issues of SST, I noticed the absence of importance given to material processing. One cannot separate out materials and the technologies of components and devices. They go hand in hand. Materials are the building blocks of every technology, old and new. A good material can generate a score of technologies like silicon. So please provide more space for materials in SST.

This space could be a selection of a component or a device, one at a time, and the articles could be written on all aspects of their materials development. They can start from the history of the earlier materials, then build on how new materials were required, developed, and usefully commercialized. Sections could be devoted to electronic materials and high purity chemicals.

The chemistry of developing materials is always fascinating. The chemical aspects give color to the exciting physical phenomena. Thick film materials, being the veritable leader in the field in material science, could be the first subject. I am aware that there are many journals, each focusing on an individual group of materials. But SST is something different and special. It has its own characteristic way of presentation.

I wish to conclude this letter with a hope that you would recognize the importance of materials in the context of the technologies of the components and devices, and enrich SST by providing a section for the same.

M.S. Setty, co-chairman, editor

ISHM India Chapter

Physical Chemistry Division

Bangalore, India

Materials science is indeed key to the evolution of the semiconductor industry, and Solid State Technology follows materials developments as closely as possible. In particular, note the article on CZ growth of silicon in this issue ("CZgrowth overview, p. 70), and earlier articles on deep UV resists ("Deep-UV resists: Evolution and status," July 1996, p.164), and low dielectric constant materials ("Low dielectric constant materials for inter-layer dielectric application," March 1996, p. 83), as well as frequent Technology News items. Regarding thick film materials specifically, we are actively seeking contributed articles and hope to address this fascinating area soon.

Katherine Derbyshire

Chief Editor