Prospects of Future Si Technologies in the Data‐Driven World

The huge amount of information has a great impact on our daily lives, which can be filled with comfort, convenience, and safety by using and analyzing the so‐called big data. It is noteworthy that we can store, share, and utilize the huge amount of data with the aid of silicon (Si) technology; the novel Si technologies will be deployed to continuously enrich the data‐driven world of the future. This chapter reviews the evolution and prospects for the future Si technologies. The Si‐based memory and logic technologies have been successfully scaled down to 1X nm node. From the device point of view, all of the Si devices face no fundamental physical limitations down to sub‐10nm nodes. Practically, fabrication cost and manufacturability are of increasing concern. Patterning difficulties, as well as tight overlay and uniformity tolerances, will increase fabrication costs. Along with individual technology evolution, the convergence of various technologies will generate new areas of functional diversification.