What are the advantages of increasing the integration of ICs?
A2 First, looking at the system as a whole, the number of parts is reduced, which increases reliability. Moreover, the parts that must be replaced in case of a fault can be identified more easily, facilitating maintenance. Furthermore, in the case of custom products, circuit analysis is more difficult, resulting in higher confidentiality. Next, in the case of miniaturizing process technology, in the area of characteristics, higher speed can be expected. Moreover, in this case, operating voltage tends to be lower, which allows the realization of lowering power consumption and heat generation (and therefore CO2 reduction). Further, as chip sizes become smaller, the chip can be fitted into smaller packages allowing reductions in mounting surface and contributing to system miniaturization. However, recent processes have entered the under 100 nm (one 10,000,000th of a meter) level, which involves relatively large capacitance and resistance of wire, and further increases in speed through the
