Abstract
It is well established today that the development of integrated circuits, for at least the next decade, will be mainly based on scaled-down CMOS technology on silicon (0.1 μm channel length, 10 8 transistors per chip, 10 ps delays…). A mass and efficient fabrication must be based on two principles: (1) scientific fabrication, which means a sequence of sharply controlled physico-chemical processes; (2) physical (not empirical) modeling and simulation of the working of the devices and of their coupling. In this paper, it is first shown that such an approach needs to go back to the “first principles” of physics (as 50 years ago when semiconductors came into view). Among the necessary physics developments in the domain of the physical-chemistry and of solid state physics, one can cite: molecular dynamics; very thin oxidation and its relation to microroughness and surface states; non-Fickian diffusion; microcontamination; electromigration; exact solution of the Boltzmann transport equation (taking into account the electronic structure of the material, the transient regime and the quantum effects); analysis of the electric, electromagnetic and phononic coupling of devices and their noise; etc.; Then it is shown that these developments need: (1) a revision of the classical educational program for microelectronics materials and processes; a list of “new” topics to-be-developed is given; (2) a very tight coupling of RD they have to work on the same space and wit the same equipment for technology research projects (doctor degree preparation). The above two points can constitute the framework for a new educational strategy involving, in a new base, a closer collaboration between university and industry. Finally, it is shown that Grenoble can be a strong pole in an efficient European Network for the 21st century silicon microelectronics.
