Advanced IC technology - opportunities and challenges

Technology scaling introduces major challenges in yield and performance with the employment of standard single-gate MOSFETs, traditional metal interconnects, and the classical 2-dimensional integration technology. Therefore, there is a need for innovative technologies aimed at enhancing the integration density, performance, and reliability of nanoscale chips. Promising technologies to resolve the degrading performance of devices and interconnects include: (1) 3-dimensional chip stacking with vertical interconnections through chips, (2) on-chip carbon nanotubes as a replacement for metal interconnects , and (3) scalable devices such as double gate FinFETs with lower leakage current characteristics as compared to the standard single-gate transistors. This paper introduces those three promising technologies and highlights the associated opportunities and challenges.