AJT on Spectech Newsletter

It’s hard to agree more with this essay. Advances in materials have enabled every aspect of technological progress. In a big example in my field, the semiconductor industry was birthed out of that initial transistor research from Bell Labs where it quickly led to the formation of Silicon Valley and a juggernaut of an industry that is a not-insignificant proportion of many different countries’ economies. Better transistors required better performing materials, and not just materials used in the transistors themselves but materials required to pattern them, etch them, and integrate them into useful devices. Purity demands for each material and chemical used thereof drive further innovations. Today, every improvement to our semiconductor devices is nearly entirely dependent upon continuous material and processing advances from raw materials to packaged circuits. As devices dimensions shrink and more and more transistors are packed closer and closer together, new materials are required. Silicon oxide, for example, is no longer an effective insulator (dielectric really) when it is too thin. Copper can’t conduct or dissipate heat as well when the wires (interconnects) are too thin. I could go on and on… we need new innovations across literally every aspect of this ecosystem. New materials are required to continue improving everything. Materials and manufacturing are absolutely integral to Progress. I applaud your efforts at trying to bolster the cause.