Gettering and Defect Engineering in Semiconductor Technology: Gadest '95 : Held in Parkhotel Schloss Wulkow, Near Berlin, Germany September 02-07, 1995 (Solid State Phenomena, Vols 47-48)

At the present time, Si-based technology is experiencing the transition to the next generation of substrates wth a diameter of 300 millimetres. The fundamental physical limits are being approached in terms of miniaturization, increased chip area, faster switching speeds and diversity of operations. This raises the question of the intrinsic limits of the currently dominating semiconductor, silicon, and under what circumstances it is advantageous to turn to other materials, such as GaAs, InP or SiC. The progress in the field of semiconductor materials science is closely connected with the development of new and the improvement of existing characterization techniques: towards atomic dimensions on one one hand, and the possibility to characterize semiconductor wafers with increasing diameter on the other.