R. Singh, P. Chandran, M. Grujicic, K.F.Poole, U. Vingnani, S.R. Ganapathi, A. Swaminathan, P.Jagannathan, & H. Iyer, Clemson University, South Carolina, USA

ABSTRACT

The 2005 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) has anticipated practical limits to complimentary metal-oxide- silicon (CMOS) scaling and expects the limit will be reached by 2020 with the 14nm technology node. Thus, there is an open question about the future of semiconductor manufacturing beyond the roadmap. With the emergence of the buzz word ‘nano technology', there are all kinds of speculations about some new semiconductor technology that will replace CMOS semiconductor manufacturing. In this paper, we have presented the fundamental requirements that are essential for any device to replace Si CMOS technology. An examination of the currently explored technologies to replace Si CMOS shows that most of these technologies have fundamental flaws. The ‘bottom up' approach of nanotechnology has fundamental limits of throughput and defects. As a result, the ‘top down' approach of CMOS manufacturing will continue to dominate electronics manufacturing beyond 2020.