Interconnections in VLSI

OCT 01, 1986

Making reliable connections between a million or more electronic components on a single chip requires a multidisciplinary approach involving thin conducting and dielectric films, chemical reactions and diffusion at interfaces.

DOI: 10.1063/1.881069

Prabhakar B. Ghate

For more than a decade after the invention of the transistor in 1948, all semiconductor circuits consisted of discrete devices either connected by wires or mounted on printed circuit boards. Such circuits offered tremendous advantages over the vacuum‐tube circuits that they replaced: less power consumption, higher speed, higher reliability, lower cost, less weight and smaller size. In 1958–59, a major technological breakthrough led to the realization of all these advantages for a second time: Working independently, Jack S. Kilby, an engineer at Texas Instruments, and Robert N. Noyce, a scientist at Fairchild, showed how one could form interconnected transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors and other active and passive components on a single piece of silicon. The resulting “integrated circuits” have revolutionized electronics ranging from radio to computers, and a decade ago these circuits surpassed discrete devices in use by the microelectronics industry. In recognition of their invention, the National Academy of Sciences inducted Kilby and Noyce into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame in 1982 and 1983, respectively.

References

1. J. S. Kilby, US patent no. 3 138 743.
2. R. N. Noyce, US patent no. 2 981 877.
3. For an interesting historical review of microelectronics, see T. R. Reid, The Chip, Simon and Schuster, New York (1984), p. 195.
4. A. H. Shah, C.‐P. Wang, R. H. Womack, J. D. Gallia, H. Shichijo, H. E. Davis, M. Elahy, S. Banerjee, G. P. Pollack, W. F. Richardson, D. M. Bordelon, S. D. S. Malhi, C. Pilch, B. Tran, P. K. Chatterjee, in 1986 IEEE Int. Solid State Circuits Conf., Digest of Technical papers, vol. 29, IEEE, New York (1986), p. 268.
5. P. B. Ghate, Thin Solid Films 45, 69 (1982).https://doi.org/THSFAP
6. See the review article by R. Rosenberg, M. J. Sullivan, J. K. Howard, in Physics of Thin Films: Interdiffusion and Reactions, J. M. Poate, K. N. Tu, J. W. Mayer, eds., Wiley, New York (1978), p. 13. Also see other articles in this book.
7. S. A. Evans, S. A. Morris, L. A. Arledge, J. O. Englade, C. R. Fuller, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices ED27, 1373 (1980).https://doi.org/IETDAI
8. P. B. Ghate, in Frontiers in Electronic Materials & Processing, AIP Conf. Proc. no. 138,
L. J. Brillson, ed., AIP, New York (1986), p. 321.
9. See the review article by F. M. d’Heurle, P. S. Ho, in Physics of Thin Films: Interdiffusion and Reactions, J. M. Poate, K. N. Tu, J. W. Mayer, eds., Wiley, New York (1978), p. 243.
10. P. B. Ghate, in IEEE 20th Annu. Proc. Reliability Phys., IEEE, New York (1982), p. 292.
11. J. R. Black, in IEEE 20th Ann. Proc. Reliability Phys., IEEE, New York (1982), p. 300.
12. I. A. Blech, J. Appl. Phys. 47, 1203 (1976).https://doi.org/JAPIAU
13. D. S. Gardner, T. L. Michalka, K. C. Saraswat, T. W. BarbeeJr, J. P. McVilte, J. D. Meindl, IEEE J. Solid‐State Circuits SC20, 94 (1985).https://doi.org/IJSCBC
14. K. M. Striny, A. W. Schelling, IEEE Trans. Components Hybrids and Manuf. Technol. CHMT4, 476 (1981).https://doi.org/ITTEDR
15. L. D. Yau, C. C. Hong, D. L. Crook, in IEEE 23rd Annu. Proc. Reliability Phys., IEEE, New York (1985), p. 115.

More about the Authors

Prabhakar B. Ghate. Texas Instruments, Inc, Dallas, Texas.