日本的首席半导体专家西泽仁一(Jun-ichi Nishizawa)决心从1986年起成批生产一种新型晶体管。他声称这种晶体管的工作速度比现有的晶体管快1000倍。这项研究是在日本政府的资助下进行的。政府对这项发明将获得成功这一点充满信心,因而它提出了一项规划以制造能成批生产这种小元件的机器。研制这些新型晶体管及制造其生产机器的工作都属于一个称为“艾雷托”(ERATO,系exploratory research for advanced technology的缩字词)的计划。这 Jun-ichi Nishizawa, Japan's chief semiconductor specialist, is determined to mass-produce a new type of transistor from 1986 onwards. He claims that such transistors work 1,000 times faster than existing transistors. The study was conducted with the support of the Japanese government. The government is confident of the success of this invention and has therefore proposed a plan to make machines that mass produce such small components. The development of these new transistors and the manufacturing of their machines belong to a project called ERATO, a contraction of exploratory research for advanced technology. This