Theyre everywhere – in our phones, TVs, DVD players, kettles, toasters, computers- -the list is endless. Suffice to say, without them I wouldnt have been able to write this article. What are they? The answer is obvious – microchips. But how did they get here?
The semiconductor industry dates back to the mid ˜50s when the first integrated circuits contained only a few transistors. Called ˜Small-Scale Integration (SSI), they used circuits containing transistors numbering in the tens.
Today the process is more advanced: chips are developed in fabrication units known as ˜tools, a complex network of deposition chambers built to cater for
the five-hundred plus development stages that every silicon wafer must now go through before the finished product is cut for distribution. The tens of transistors have now increased to millions of tiny transistors but what role has gas played in this technological revolution?
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