Even as we enter the nanotechnology era, we are now encountering the
50th anniversary of the invention of the IC. Will silicon continue to be
the pre-eminent material and will MooreTM's Law continue
unabated, albeit in a broader economic venue, in the nanotechnology era?
This monograph addresses these issues by a re-examination of the
scientific and technological foundations of the micro-electronics era.
By better assessing and understanding the past five decades of this era,
it is proposed that a firmer foundation can be laid for the research
that will ensue and possibly provide a glimpse of what is next to come
in the nanotechnology era.