Hidden depths to devices

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Abstract
Silicon is the dominant semiconductor used in commercial and consumer electronics. This is due to its particular combination of physical properties – wide band gap, high carrier mobility, good thermal and chemical stability and the ease with which it can be converted into a stable high quality dielectric (SiO2) Ironically more than 99% of all the silicon used in integrated circuits (ICs) is present merely to provide mechanical support for the fragile transistors and components, fabricated in a thin surface layer typically 1μm thick (figure 1a). For ICs the ideal substrate for volume production would be simply a thin silicon film (figure 1b). Now, after almost two decades of research, this goal may, at last, be realised through silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology which can achieve a thin film of high-quality single crystal silicon albeit supported on a dielectric slab (figure 1d). SOI substrates could then become the base material for new circuits being designed for the 1990s and beyond.

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