Silicon Earth
Introduction to the Microelectronics and Nanotechnology Revolution

Introduces readers with little or no background to the many marvels of microelectronics and nanotechnology, using easy, non-intimidating language.

John D. Cressler (Author)

9780521879392, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 August 2009

508 pages, 398 b/w illus. 6 tables
26 x 18.5 x 3.2 cm, 1.2 kg

"take you through a historical voyage to the modern wonders of electronics and nanotechnology... provides a concise, easy to follow, step-by-step discussion of the evolutionary history of silicon-based electronics, microelectromechanical structures (MEMS), and nanotechnology, as well as their impact on our live...topic coverage in this book is quite remarkable...This book is a comprehensive yet thrilling and invigorating simple-to-read text that is well on its way to becoming a classic." - Mohammad Mojarradi and Benjamin Blalock, IEEE Nanotechnology, September 2010

We are in the swirling center of the most life-changing technological revolution the Earth has ever known. In only 60 years, an eye-blink of human history, a single technological invention has launched the proverbial thousand ships, producing the most sweeping and pervasive set of changes ever to wash over humankind; changes that are reshaping the very core of human existence, on a global scale, at a relentlessly accelerating pace. And we are just at the very beginning. Silicon Earth introduces readers with little or no background to the many marvels of microelectronics and nanotechnology, using easy, non-intimidating language, with an intuitive approach using minimal math. The general scientific and engineering underpinnings of microelectronics and nanotechnology are addressed, as well as how this new technological revolution is transforming a broad array of interdisciplinary fields, and civilization as a whole. Special 'widget deconstruction' chapters address the inner workings of ubiquitous micro/nano-enabled pieces of technology such as cell phones, flash drives, GPS, DVDs, and digital cameras.

1. The communications revolution
2. A matter of scale
3. Widget deconstruction #1: cell phone
4. Innumerable biographies: a brief history of micro/nanoelectronics
5. Semiconductors – lite!
6. Widget deconstruction #2: USB flash drive
7. Bricks and mortar: micro/nanoelectronics fabrication
8. Transistors – lite!
9. Microtools and toys: MEMS, NEMS, and BioMEMS
10. Widget deconstruction #3: GPS
11. Let there be light: the bright world of photonics
12. The nano-world: fact and fiction
13. The gathering storm: societal transformations and some food-for-thought
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Electronic devices & materials [TJFD], Electronics engineering [TJF], Electronics & communications engineering [TJ], Nanotechnology [TBN]