Formulation and Classification of Electronic Devices
Michael Olorunfunmi Kolawole · Electronics · 2020
Circuits have been fundamental to the development of electronic devices: from the basic analog to integrated digital systems and to the evolving quantum computing systems. This chapter discusses the technological processes (fabrication methods) involved in producing electronic devices or circuits that comprise many layers of formation from basic single to compound elements. These elements include the type of chemical bonding involved (ionic or covalent) as well as the process of creating features in a specialized layer of material through chemical modification and how pattern transfer is carried out multiple times to form the device or circuit, and their limitations. The classification of integrated circuits (IC) by integration levels is also discussed. An IC, also called chip , is an assembly of electronic components, fabricated as a single unit with miniature devices and their interconnections, built up on a thin substrate (or wafer) of semiconductor material(s). A small wafer of semiconductor materials embedded with integrated circuitry is shedding more light in the way of manufacturing them, leading to an increase in electronic components’ efficient design and size reduction. The increase in complexity of chips technology and miniaturization will continue, and the technological as well as physical limitations due to heat and leakage have to be considered.