Silicon technology the new steel

It has been said that the path to future industrial power resides in the domain of those nations which can demonstrate a virtuosity in the evolving silicon technology. Whether it be a "time computer" C/MOS chip to control the red dots on the face of a digital watch, or the logic controlling the time-division multiplex coding used to automate a complex railway system, silicon devices are becoming amazingly pervasive. One thing is used in common by all the previously mentioned devices-silicon technology. Silicon integrated circuit technology has matured over the last decade to the point where LSI devices are commonplace in the various MOS technologies and are becoming increasingly available in the bipolar technologies.