TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES OF VL SI

Within our present knowledge of the behaviour of the MOS transistors o n Silicon, it seems that they can be operated with dimensions well bel ow 0.1 mum. The photolithography tools will probably be usable close t o 0.1 mum. So, large technical perspectives are still opened to the de velopment of the VLSI. However, to take profit of such small geometrie s, enormous progresses are required for the process quality; they expl ain the dramatic increase of the investments which are necessary in th is domain. Economic factors become then of prime importance; they will control the progress rate in the future. Fortunately, the demand, for portable systems and for image treatment and transport in particular, will constitute strong technology drivers in the next ten years; so o ne can expect that the VLSI will continue to progress at a rapid rate. Afterwards, the extrapolation of the economic terms suggest that some change, either qualitative or quantitative, must occur in 10-15 years range from now.