SHF: Medium: Collaborative Research: Atomic scale to circuit modeling of emerging nanoelectronic devices and adapting them to SPICE simulation package

University Of Virginia Main Campus, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

Aggressive scaling of CMOS technology and concomitant inventions of nanoscale nascent technologies have fueled the growth of computer, information, communication and consumer electronics industries of the 21st Century by leveraging the ground-breaking discoveries in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The workhorse of multibillion-dollar semiconductor industry, the CMOS technology is approaching its scaling limit due to the strong quantum-mechanical effects present at the nanoscale. To sustain the accelerated pace of economic growth during the post-CMOS era, this multi-university collaborative research proposal envisages building the roadmap of VLSI technology in two significant ways. First, the research is mooted to extend quantum transport principles to simulate emerging nano-devices based on novel semiconductor and 2-D layered materials by exploiting non-charge based degrees of freedom, electron spin controlled magnetization, interaction between electromagnetic waves and semiconductors in metamaterial structures, and topological states in topological insulators. Second, the research will systematically scale these properties from their fundamental atomistic limits to circuit level integration by developing industry-graded SPICE-compatible compact models for heterogeneous circuits that will define the landscape of beyond Moore?s Law VLSI systems. Integrative education, training, and outreach activities envisioned in this collaborative proposal will encompass K-12, undergraduate, graduate, female, minority, and postdoctoral fellows by leveraging the existing outreach activities of participating universities in order to advance science and engineering education in broader segments of the society. Using density-functional theory (DFT), time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT), time-dependent density-matrix functional theory (TD-DMFT), to phenomenological Extended Huckel to effective mass, in conjunction with non-equilibrium Green?s function (NEGF) methods, quantum field theory, and finite-difference time domain (FDTD) methods, a wide variety of computational methods are going to be developed to tackle the modeling of multiscale circuits in future VLSI systems. The software packages and multiscale modeling tools resulting from the proposed research activity are going to provide computer chip designers and manufacturers the ability to model complex hybrid substrates comprising nanoscale electronic, spintronic, opto-electronic, and plasmonic devices. The resulting software is going to be written with a view to enabling researchers from universities and practicing engineers in industries to develop their own modules that will engender improved system functionality, integration density, and operational speed.