|
New and efficient electronic technologies are making their way from science fiction to
reality. Smaller chip sizes for computers and the ability to store more information and
tools in electronics increases the ability and minimizes
materials for information technology devices such as
computers. With research in nanotechnology, innovations
and inventions will become not only faster and more energy
efficient, but smaller in size making it possible for more to fit
into the palm of a hand or in the depth of a pocket.
|
Beyond Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductors (CMOS)
Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductors (CMOS) have been one of the main technologies
for economic growth during the past half-century. In the development of electronics or
memory devices there is a challenge to push the boundaries of current CMOS technology
that is based on charge properties of electrons. These
circuits have enabled the creation of many important
products such as personal computers, cellular phones,
global positioning systems, medical instruments as well
as other applications. Uncertainties in scaling beyond the
10nm CMOS node size have led to much research. To
address this situation, an examination of novel nanoscale
materials and structures focusing on fundamental atomic
and molecular level understanding is being researched to
enable new properties to be more rapidly incorporated in
devices and architectures. Next generation post-CMOS
devices such as the Spin Wave Bus will gain considerable attention as scaling of CMOS
continues to face increasing power and cost challenges.
Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations (ITNG'06) 0-7695-2497-4/06
|
Spintronics (Carbon Electronics, Molecular Computers)
One of the challenges in the development of electronics or memory devices is to push the
boundaries of current CMOS technology that is based on charge properties of electrons.
Since this technology is expected to reach the limit in 2020, investigations are ongoing to
come up with new principles, materials and designs.
An important new approach being investigated utilizes spintronics, which is based on the
spin components of the electrons. In current computer
chips information is processed in the form of electronic
charges which are transmitted by electrons physically
moving from one place to another. Spintronics studies the
rotation, or spin, of electrons, which can also carry
information. Instead of physically moving the electrons,
the information can be sent in the form of a "spin wave"
that travels through the sea of electrons in a conductor
like a ripple moving across a pond. Logic gates to process this information have already
been created, obstacles remain in finding a way to split the signals from one gate to
another so that several gates can be connected together to form a transistor. This method
has the potential to work on a much smaller scale than conventional transistors because it
does not rely on the movement of electrons, also because the electrons would not lose
heat to movement the transistors would use much less power.
Other approaches include the use of carbon electronics such as graphene materials as well
as novel molecular building blocks including rotaxanes.
Computers built using these new components could be much smaller and more powerful than today's silicon-based computers thanks to work being done at CNSI.
New Scientist "Computer chips
give new spin on saving energy" (21 November 2008)
|
|
New Carbon Materials
Advances in synthesizing graphene offer opportunities for making novel materials for
nanoelectronics and many other applications. Graphenes are made up of carbon atoms
arranged in a honeycomb network that have weak
interactions that hold the graphene sheet together. When
physicists were able to isolate single layer graphene
sheets they discovered unusual electronic properties
arising from confinement of electrons in two dimensions.
Their mechanical strength is comparable to that of carbon
nanotubes. Studies suggest that the production cost of
graphene sheets in large quantities could be much lower
than that of carbon nanotubes. Graphene sheets are thus
attractive as atomically thin yet robust components for nanoelectronic and
nanoelectromechanical devices, and as nanoscale building blocks for new materials.
Science 320 1170 - 1171 (30 May 2008)
|
|
Graphene - Mass Produced
A method for the mass production of graphene has been developed by nanotechnology
researchers where graphite oxide paper is placed in a solution of pure hydrazine (a
chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen), which
reduces the graphite oxide paper into single-layer
graphene. The graphene produced from the hydrazine
solution is also a more efficient electrical conductor than
previously reported graphene. The coverage (size) of the
graphene sheets can be controlled by altering the
concentration and composition of the hydrazine solution.
This hydrazine method also preserves the integrity of the
sheets, producing the largest-area graphene sheet yet
reported, 20 micrometers by 40 micrometers. Single-layer graphene sheets have potential
as electrodes for solar cells, for use in sensors, as the anode electrode material in lithium
batteries and as efficient zero-band-gap semiconductors.
Nature Nanotechnology 4, 25 - 29 (9 November 2008)
|
|
Lens-free Imaging
A lens-free imaging system finds and recognizes the shadows of T cells and bacteria.
Clinical tests for identifying and counting normal and
bacterial cells in blood and other samples can tell doctors
the source of a bacterial infection or help them monitor
the immune health of people with HIV. But conventional
cell counting is costly and time-consuming. A simple,
lens-free imaging system being developed, nicknamed
LUCAS, uses a chip like the one found in a digital
camera to count and distinguish different types of cells in blood and drinking water, and
simple algorithms to identify and count the cells. A prototype of LUCAS has been
installed in a commercial cell phone and web cam. Devices like this could be used to
monitor water quality and to provide cheap diagnostics in rural and underdeveloped
areas.
LUCAS units are capable of counting and identifying a wide variety of microparticles
within a sample solution almost instantaneously and could be a potential replacement for
current equipment used in research labs used to identify cell types, which are limited to
analyzing a single cell at a time.
Lab Chip DOI: 10.1039/ b813943a (Published Online 5
December 2008)
|
|
Silicon Photonics
Self-Powered Silicon Laser Chips- A new method of turning waste heat into electrical
power might speed up communications inside computers- and mark another advance in
the field of silicon photonics. This new nanotechnology could help engineers with trying
to incorporate faster optical elements into commercial processors. As computer chip
producers deploy more and more transistors onto a silicon chip, they're running into a
limit of how much data they can push out of a chip using copper wires. To overcome this
chips are being created which transmit data using silicon lasers. These silicon lasers
initially required a lot of energy, but after a method was developed by nanotechnology
researchers to turn the waste heat produced into electrical energy the silicon lasers
changed from being energy users to being energy producers. All that remains to make the
system practical is reducing the size of the system for harvesting the waste heat. Silicon
photonics has the potential to shrink routers and other equipment that currently fills up an
entire room down to the size of a computer chip.
Optics Express 14 12327-12333 (11 December 2006)
Technology Review, Published by MIT "Self-Powered Silicon Laser Chips" (6 July 2006)
|
|
Nanoimprint Lithography
Nanotechnology researchers are involved in the field of nanoimprint lithography, in
which patterns of wires less than 50 atoms wide are stamped out on substrates, or
substances. The patterns are then filled in with metals for the wires creating much smaller
circuits and more powerful semiconductor chips than are currently available. Once a
silicon wafer is covered with the substrate, lithography could be used to create tiny
devices on the wafer. This technology is currently being commercialized by HP in
tandem with Nanolithosolutions Inc., a start-up company co-created by a CNSI Member
who is a former member of HP Labs.
Angewandte Chemie International Edition 47, 1-5
(12 November 2008)
|
|
