Chemical processing of materials on silicon: more functionality, smaller features, and larger wafers

The invention of the transistor followed by more than 60 years of aggressive device scaling and process integration has enabled the global information web and subsequently transformed how people communicate and interact. The principles and practices built upon chemical processing of materials on silicon have been widely adapted and applied to other equally important areas, such as microfluidic systems for chemical and biological analysis and microscale energy storage solutions. The challenge of continuing these technological advances hinges on further improving the performance of individual devices and their interconnectivity while making the manufacturing processes economical, which is dictated by the materials' innate functionality and how they are chemically processed. In this review, we highlight challenges in scaling up the silicon wafers and scaling down the individual devices as well as focus on needs and challenges in the synthesis and integration of multifunctional materials.