Advances in semiconductor technology have given us the sophisticated chips that are the heart of the vast array of high-tech devices we now use to run our lives, from smartphones and flat-panel televisions to games consoles and increasingly intelligent cars. Perhaps more crucially, they have also played a central role in recent advances in healthcare, including sophisticated surgical robots and artificial intelligence (AI) devices that assist medical professionals in the diagnosis of cancer and other conditions.
The silicon chips used in these applications often cost $100 million or more to develop and take years from concept to production. To understand why, we need to consider the technology that underpins them: the production process starts with an expensive, highly refined wafer of crystalline silicon, then modifies the material to create the necessary characteristics for semiconductor device building blocks such as transistors, before adding further...