Physical limits of silicon transistors and circuits

A discussion on transistors and electronic computing including some history introduces semiconductor devices and the motivation for miniaturization of transistors. The changing physics of field-effect transistors and ways to mitigate the deterioration in performance caused by the changes follows. The limits of transistors are tied to the requirements of the chips that carry them and the difficulties of fabricating very small structures. Some concluding remarks about transistors and limits are presented. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version) 0034-4885/05/122701+46$90.00 © 2005 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK 2701