T D Holt

Substrate T D Holt

"A gripping thriller" -- Midwest Book Review World Dependencies: Oil and energy, climate, food, medicine. There is an even greater dependency that goes unnoticed-on semiconductor materials-substrates such as silicon and hafnium that are the basis for all the integrated circuits and chips used around the world. Substrates are the foundation to the digital revolution, commerce in the 21st century, the Internet, global communications, and of course, defense systems. When rumors start to appear regarding the fallibility of chips, a young university scientist, expert in semiconductor materials, stumbles upon an aberrant, time-delayed behavior in substrates. The magnitude of the aberration could impact the functioning of chips across the globe. That such a problem could exist is absurd. He doubts it. His colleagues doubt it. If he were to verify the rumors, would the results be worldwide panic? Sensitive to a fault with his family yet pragmatic in his research, he struggles to perfect an unimaginable solution-one that must be implemented rapidly with the aid of his colleagues. To develop a solution in the lab based solely upon mathematics and the hypothetical behavior of matter seems almost impossible. To implement that technology in a world sliding backwards is an altogether different and even greater challenge. He must fight errant bloggers and journalists, maverick federal agents, a semiconductor cartel-all of whom threaten his family, his life, his faith in God. Through his wife's love he finds strength and a renewal in his own faith to overcome the technical challenges, intrigue, and doubts. Overcoming doubt is one thing; timing is another, and the clock is ticking... In the scientist's own words, as he confronts his demons and myriad dangers: Being alive was not always the case. At least that is how it might have turned out. It's a complex story. Not one I really want to tell nor know how to begin. Put simply, she says the story must be told. It could happen to a chip near you.