Reference no: EM132604611

You will need to cite at least one academic reference in APA or IEEE style:

1. List of advanced materials used in making microprocessor chips (in addition to single-crystal, high-purity silicon): Interconnects, ohmic contacts, diffusion barrier metals, oxides and other insulators, doped films, organic insulating films, resist materials, bonding wires and leads, high thermal conductivity pastes, chip packaging materials such as nanocomposite insulators with high thermal conductivity, etc.

2. Methods of making at least two of these materials from their starting precursors, with attention to the specifications of material quality, uniformity, consistent production, and their final incorporation in the chip, highlighting their final dimensions. (When selecting the two materials, you should take care that others in the class haven't selected the same. This will promote diverse nanomaterials issues to discuss.)

3. The common ground of nanotechnology in all this: Studying the properties of many kinds of advanced materials (metals, semiconductors, organic and inorganic insulators) at the nanoscale, optimizing and integrating them all, and finally producing the packaged IC chip.

4. Prior to the invention of electricity, applications such as computing, communications, energy storage, controls, and actuations were done non-electronically (largely by mechanical means that took many football fields in terms of space and days in terms of time). Exploiting electrons for these applications using nanomaterials in a handheld gadget has been advantageous to us (humans) and, possibly, disadvantageous to the planet.