A Survey of Microsystem Electronics

The history of micro system electronics is briefly traced through the successive stages of: miniaturization; subminiaturization; microminiaturization; thin-film integrated circuits; semiconductor integrated circuits; and finally morphological integrated circuits or functional blocks. The term integrated circuit is defined as the combination, on or within a single chunk of material, of multiple electrical elements to perform a desired circuit or systems function. Improvement in reliability, decrease in size and weight, decreased power consumption, and lower cost are discussed as motivations for Integrated Circuitry. Fabrication techniques, interconnection, and accessibility are identified as major problems. A catalogue of techniques for fabrication of Integrated Circuitry is presented.