From micro- to nano-technologies

Twenty years after the first CAS, the landscape of semiconductor technologies is significantly changed and diversified by a great number of microtechnologies (i.e. technologies of microfabrication). New developments are related to the non-electronics structures, including sensors and actuators. The fact that they can be brought down in size and cost and fabricated with the same technology as the electronic devices, paves the way to the monolithic integration of systems (i.e. a complete system on a chip). The fabrication of nanostructures (structures with characteristic features of a few nanometers) also shows a big promise for information and communication technologies, because new quantum devices may offer new attractive solutions for information sensing, storage, computation, transfer processing and display. The nanotechnology brings us much closer to the chemical and biological world and allows much accurate and comprehensive experiments in fundamental sciences. The next step will be the development of biomimetic system and revolutionary technologies inspired from nature. To a large extent even when silicon is not preferred as a basic material, the present day microelectronics is a starting point for new developments. With an enormous potential. Microelectronics seems to be like a highway constructed on an unexplored continent of challenges and possibilities