Semiconductor Manufacturing in the Nanotechnology World of the 21st Century

The term nanotechnology has different meanings and expectations to different people. In this paper, we have defined and examined what really is nanotechnology. Based on the use of fundamental knowledge of science and system level engineering and business knowledge that we know as of today, the role of nanotechnology in the semiconductor manufacturing in the 21st century is described. As of today, there is no other technology that can replace silicon CMOS based integrated circuits as the feedstock of electronics industry. Key trends in semiconductor manufacturing are predicted that will drive the growth of global electronics industry