Microelectronics

"Microelectronics, as the name suggests, is a subfield of electronics and relates to the study and microfabrication of very small electronic designs and components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-scale or smaller. These devices are frequently made from semiconductor materials. Many components of normal electronic design are available in a microelectronic equivalent. These comprise transistors, capacitors, inductors, resistors, diodes and (naturally) insulators and conductors can all be found in microelectronic devices. Unique wiring techniques such as wire bonding are also frequently used in microelectronics because of the unusually small size of the components, leads and pads. Microelectronics is fundamentally a multi-disciplinary field of research, exploring the physics, materials and chemistry required to make devices work. It is also multidisciplinary with regard to its wide variety of applications, as it plays a vital role in all fields of innovation, ranging from advanced health care to telecommunications and smart grids. The ever-increasing demand for processing power, sensing capabilities and miniaturisation makes microelectronics a highly innovative research field. As techniques improve, the scale of microelectronic components continues to decrease. At smaller scales, the relative impact of intrinsic circuit properties such as interconnections may become noteworthy. These are called parasitic effects, and the goal of the microelectronics design engineer is to find ways to compensate for or to minimize these effects, while always delivering smaller, faster, and cheaper devices. This book, Microelectronics, provides a wide-reaching, regular, and inclusive update on microelectronic circuits and systems."