Advances in micro- and nanoelec-tronics-related devices and processes will be described in papers presented at the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) 2003 in Washington, DC. The show encompasses both silicon and nonsilicon device technology, optoelectronics, MEMS, and molecular electronics. An unusual item this year is a paper on electronic skin that gives a robotic arm a sense of touch. Researchers at the University of Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan) accomplished this feat by fabricating a large-area pressure-sensor matrix on a flexible plas-tic sheet―integrating high-quality organic transistors and rubbery pressure sensors. Another topic generating growing excitement among many companies and re-searchers is strained silicon, a material that can make faster transistors that are compatible with CMOS fabrication processes. For example, a research team from Taiwan Semiconductor (Hsin-Chu, Taiwan, R.O.C.) will describe 60-nm gate-length transistors made using silicon grown on a SiGe buffer layer tailored to get its lattice just right to strain the silicon.
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