| Description: |
Electronics from the Bottom Up is an educational initiative designed to promote a new approach to electronic devices, that is very different from the standard approach of extrapolating the traditional concepts of microelectronics onto the nanoscale. Instead we start with concepts that are sound at the nanoscale and build them up to connect with the familiar concepts of microelectronics at the micro/macro scales. We believe that this bottom-up viewpoint will provide engineers with a unique perspective that will make them more effective in exploiting the exciting possibilities afforded by nanoelectronics.
The field of semiconductor microelectronics is undergoing a transformation to nanoelectronics. This transformation has been largely driven by a "top-down" approach that extends concepts and techniques originally developed for bulk semiconductors and large device to the new field of nanoscale device technology. But to exploit the opportunities that nanoscience presents, engineers will need to learn how to think about materials, devices, circuits, and systems in a new way to complement traditional, top-down understanding with new, "bottom-up" perspectives.
Electronics from the Bottom Up is designed to promote the bottom-up perspective by beginning at the nanoscale, and working up to the micro and macroscale of devices and systems. For electronic devices, this means first understanding the smallest electronic device - a single molecule with two contacts. For carrier transport, it means beginning at the nanoscale where ballistic transport, atomistic effects, and stochastic effects dominate. For MOSFETs, it means beginning with the "ultimate" MOSFET. Electronics from the Bottom Up does not mean ab initio numerical simulations - it means beginning with concepts and approaches that are both simple and sound at the nanoscale rather than extrapolated from the microscale.
Supported by Intel Foundation and the NSF-funded Network for Computational Nanotechnology. |