Circuit density has been increased significantly over the decades according to Moore’s law. In 1965, Gordon Moore, a cofounder of Intel Corporation, predicted the number of transistors per unit area of an integrated circuits double every 2 years. That was based on careful observation of an emerging trend in 1965. In practice, the doubling has taken place every 18 months. Along the way the relative chip size and cost have decreased while chip numbers have grown at an exponential pace. That insight, known as Moore’s law, has become the golden rule of the electronics industry.

        Many experts believe Moore’s law hits its physical and economical limitations in 2017 and has slowed. Each generation of the semiconductor manufacturing process is referred to as technology node. The process’s minimum feature size is the designation given to the technology node. That is the size of the process’s length in nanometers. The common factor to refer to the circuit density is half-pitch defined as half the distance between identical features in an array for a memory cell. As of 2018, 14 nm process chips are commonly in mass production to be followed by 10 nm chips production. Minute defects scan cause failures in the form of loss of entire wafers which could cost tens of millions of dollars for a single batch. Defects can originate from chemical and particulate contamination of fluids and particle shedding from solid surfaces.

        There has been growing demand for fluoropolymers with ever higher purity and resistance to particulate formation. Manufacturers of fluid handling components strive to prevent contamination of fluoropolymer components during processing. Wafer size has been increasing, and more processing steps are required to build more powerful circuits. These factors greatly increase the value of wafers in work, so upsets such as contamination of process fluids have a severe financial impact. To help guard against contamination, double containment designs are used for fluid transport systems that feature two fluoropolymer barriers between fluids and the external environment.

Fluoropolymers are widely used for wire and cable insulation but not always for the same reasons. It is true that all applications make use of polymer’s dielectric properties, but not to the same degree. Some uses exploit the ability of fluoropolymers to serve over a wide temperature range, and particularly at high temperatures. Others rely on their resistance to chemicals or their resistance to changes in properties over time In electronic connectors for use at high frequencies, PTFE is a standard material due to its low dielectric constant. This dielectric property help minimize the loss of strength of signals being transmitted through the connectors.

In thermocouple connectors, ETFE provides resistance to elevated temperatures. A major use of FEP is in insulation for data wire and cables to move signal in computer networks in office buildings. They often are called “plenum cables” because they are installed in air-handling plenum spaces. FEP is used for two reasons: its excellent high-frequency dielectric properties and fire performance. Its low dielectric constant and dissipation factor at high frequencies helps assure good data signal transmission at high frequencies required for computer networks. Its fire performance helps these data cables meet building code safety requirements for low flame spread and low smoke generation. FEP is also used to insulate coaxial cables that must meet the stringent building code requirements. Such cables are used for video transmission in broadcasting studios and other demanding high frequency applications. In some code jurisdictions, fire alarm cables are insulated with PVDF because of its good fire performance and mechanical toughness.

In this use, high frequency dielectric properties are unimportant. For several decades, virtually all commercial and military aircrafts have used signal, control, and power wire and cables insulated entirely or partly with fluoropolymers. PTFE, FEP, ETFE, ECTFE, and PVDF have been used for this insulation. Critical performance characteristics include service at extreme temperatures, good fire performance, and resistance to chemicals such as hydraulic fluids, fuels, and cleaning solutions. The resistance of fluoropolymers to property changes over time is also important for aircraft wiring insulation. PVC and many other common polymers used for insulation must be compounded with plasticizers, fire retardants, and other materials to achieve required levels of performance. Some additives may migrate out of the insulation or undergo changes that will reduce performance to unacceptable levels. This deterioration can occur more rapidly at the high temperatures at which some aircraft wiring operates.