Everyone is familiar with the amazing performance of a modern laptop, powered by a billion-plus nanotransistors, each having an active region that is barely a few hundred atoms long. What is not as appreciated is the deeper understanding of current flow, energy exchange and device operation that the microelectronics revolution has enabled, which forms the basis for what we call the bottom-up approach. These lessons from nanoelectronics should be of broad relevance to the general problems of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics which pervade many different fields.

Part 2 of this lecture is continued in Lessons from Nanoelectronics (Q&A).

“Electronics from the Bottom Up” is an educational initiative designed to bring a new perspective to the field of nano device engineering. It is co-sponsored by the Intel Foundation and the Network for Computational Nanotechnology.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Supriyo Datta (2011), "Lessons from Nanoelectronics," https://nanohub.org/resources/11700.

  BibTex | EndNote

1. bottom up approach
2. nanoelectronics
3. Summer School