Silicon-based technologies

New silicon-based technologies will undoubtedly start to become commercially available in the near future. This will lead to miniaturized chromatographic systems and 

Jenkins et reported on the development of sensors based on imprinted polymers 

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Figure 3. Cross section of the two basic geometries for microresonators with port waveguides (a) vertical arrangement (h) lateral arrangement (the dashed region indicates the analyte layer). The structure in this case is fabricated in silicon-based technology, with the index of refraction of Si02 and Si3N4 1.45 and 2.0 respectively.

From what we know today, crystalline silicon-based technology has the capability to continue to follow the established price experience curve, with direct production costs expected to achieve significant reduction to around 1.00 in 2013 and 0.75 in 2020 and even lower in the long term. This is true for other technologies... 

In view of current state of the art, namely, silicon-based technology, molecular electronics definitely exceed the expectations of a single product line. Going back, for instance, to 1960 silicon-based electronics were nearly exclusively considered as a simple replacement for the vacuum tube. However, it would have been myopic to limit the potential of silicon in that field of research. In fact, silicon constituted a technological platform, which evolved into the development of various products, most of them unfathomable at the time. Similarly, molecular electronics may be considered as a platform technology, rather than a single product line, which may give rise to many industrial products which are currently unforeseeable. 

More recently, the applications for silicon now include electronics. A silicon-based device is found in almost every consumer product available in our world today. Even refrigerators now have extensive microprocessor controls, some fitted with television screens The popularity of flat-panel televisions has also employed silicon-based technology, especially for thin-fllm transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT LCDs). In addition to electronics, as the world looks for alternative sources of energy due to dwindling petroleum reserves, silicon-based photovoltaic devices will represent an increasingly important application for our society. 

The majority of commercial photovoltaic cells utilize silicon-based technology. When sunlight comes in contact with ap-n diode, the absorbed energy causes promotion of electrons from valence to conduction bands, generating additional electron-hole pairs. The most noticeable result of this excitation is an effective increase in the number of electrons in the conduction band of p-Si (or holes in n-Si, referred to as the minority-carrier concentration). As a result, electrons in the p region will diffuse into the depletion region, where the junction potential propels them back into n-Si vice versa for holes Figure 4.53a). 

Silicon-based technology requires the removal of the surface oxide layer, and the termination and stabilization of the Si surfaces. This is conventionally performed by dipping in HF, which not only removes the oxide layer, but provides H-... 

Miniaturization of fuel cells (FC) can offer a possibility in the field of small energy sources. Many silicon-based technologies can be used to perform micro-fuel cells and, in particular, porous silicon. In this chapter, after general consideration on fuel cells, we describe the state of the art of porous silicon integration in micro-fuel cells. In particular, we show how porous silicon has arisen as a promising material to perform many functions necessary to the core fuel cell such as proton exchange membrane, gas diffusion layer and catalyst support or flow fields. The performances of the several final devices reported in the literature are discussed. 

Silicon-based technology is the foundation of multibillion dollar enterprises. The modem personal computer industry exists only because of the ability to economically produce silicon wafers from... 

The set up of a miniaturised multicompound gas analysis system based on the infrared absorption photometry is proposed. It seems to be a promising concept to apply the principles of the non dispersive infrared (NDIR) technique in a miniaturised analysis system using silicon based technologies. The fabrication of the optical components by silicon micromachinig technologies is discussed as well as different technological alternatives of the NDIR techniques. 

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