Even as we enter the nanotechnology era we are now encountering the 50th anniversary of the invention of the IC. Will silicon continue to be the pre-eminent material and will MooreTM s Law continue unabated albeit in a broader economic venue in the nanotechnology era? This monograph addresses these issues by a re-examination of the scientific and technological foundations of the micro-electronics era. By better assessing and understanding the past five decades of this era it is proposed that a firmer foundation can be laid for the research that will ensue and possibly provide a glimpse of what is next to come in the nanotechnology era.