It's a materials world

I was looking at the spate of recent announcements about the amazing things being done with nanomaterials such as buckminsterfullerene, and realized that current developments in materials technology herald devices of a nature beyond what we currently believe to be possible. From the days when the ancient Greeks discovered that amber could generate static electricity when rubbed against cloth, materials research and development has been an integral part of science.

From the very beginning, advances in electronic technology have been and will continue to be inextricably linked to advances in materials technology. Today's ever-smaller and ever-faster devices would be impossible without the performance gains in substrates, dielectrics, conductors, and electrolytes. Where would the industry be without advanced materials to realize the technology? Even Moore's Law is being given a new lease on life via breakthroughs in materials. Another example is evinced in this issue's Outlook on a new polytetrafluoroethylene membrane for fuel cells and ultracapacitors that will enable more energy to fit into smaller spaces than ever before. In the area of capacitor dielectrics, niobium is starting to threaten tantalum, and for traditional silicon dioxide gate stacks, ultrathin films of zirconia and zirconium silicate are being investigated as a replacement. In each case, the materials enable the technology, not the other way around. The latest crop of new IC designs would be nothing but thought exercises without the wafer technology to embody them. Let's not forget polymers, either. Dielectrics, displays, and even transistors are being developed using this material. Hybrid formulations using organic resins and ferroelectric ceramics with high dielectric constants are being used to construct integrated passive devices and decoupling capacitance films. Even biological materials are being investigated for use in electronic devices. The future of electronics science is visible in the current state of materials art. Another thing I've noticed is the emergence of materials providers as technology players. Companies such as 3M, Dow Chemical, and DuPont are buying the intellectual property behind the technology developments such as OLEDs, becoming major players on both sides of the equation, moving beyond simply providing raw material to taking an active hand in the development of the technology. The key is to remember that the possible is a moving target, changing as materials technology progresses. Alix L. Paultre, Associate Editor