The materials issues for future ULSIs

Problem areas in materials for future ULSIs are identified and possible solutions are discussed. Many new materials have already been used in addition to the usual silicon, its oxide and aluminum to make state-of-the-art LSIs which contain up to forty million transistors and feature line-widths around 0.8 mu m. Why the materials have to be reviewed to further exploit the ultimate potential of integrated circuits and what are the most likely candidates? Will one rely solely on silicon till the predicted physical limit around 0.1 mu m is reached? Those are the issues addressed by the author.