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The ready availability of inexpensive, high density semiconductor deviceshas made the “computer age” possible. These devices, which perform the central functions of computing, have shrunk dramatically over the past 20 years. Reduced circuit element size not only allows more transistors to be packed into a smaller volume but also reduces manufacturing costs. For example, today an aspiring graduate student can walk into the local computer discount store and, for about

$1000, purchase a credit card size package containing enough semiconductor memory to hold 16 X 106 characters (16 MB, enough to hold approximately 8000 double-spaced typewritten pages). In 1974, only 20 years ago, 16 MB of semiconductor memory would have occupied a volume of 224 L or slightly larger than a