Silicon nanoelectronics: prospects and promises

It is widely recognized that the holy grail for nanoelectronics is a technology that is compatible with standard silicon. We review the current prospects for the development of such a technology. We will discuss the current prospects for Si based heterojunctions including SiGeC, CaF/sub 2/, CeO/sub 2/, SiO/sub 2/ and ZnS to name just a few. Further, we review the status of one device structures, the tunnel switched diode, which can currently be deployed in a number of applications.