Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the world’s
leading university-research consortium for semiconductors and related
technologies, today announced the latest round of awards for the
Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI), a public-private partnership
that aims to maintain U.S. leadership in next-generation electronics by
developing devices that exploit the unique properties of nanometer-scale
materials. NRI’s goal is to develop a radical,
yet practical, new device that continues scaling of semiconductors
beyond the predominantly silicon content found in the chips that power
today’s computers and electronics. The aim is
to demonstrate feasibility of such devices in simple circuits during the
next 5-10 years.
The awards are the first results from the NRI partnership with the
Commerce Department’s National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST), announced last fall. The partnership is
intended to advance nanoelectronics research at leading universities
across the U.S., leading to future products for industry and making an
important contribution to NIST’s mission of
developing measurements and standards for nanotechnology. In addition to
the $3.8 million in existing NRI industry funds, the new awards will
provide an additional $11.2M of funding from the public-private
partnership between NIST and the industry, resulting in a total of $15M
committed to nanoelectronics funding at the NRI centers over the next
three years.
“These new awards are an important milestone
for America’s exploration of nanoelectronics,
expanding both the research projects and the number of U.S. universities
involved. The deep technological expertise and funding combined under
the NRI and NIST partnership bodes well for the U.S. in the race to find
the next semiconductor device,” said Dr. Jeff
Welser, director of the SRC-NRI. “The
importance of maintaining our leadership in nanoelectronics can’t
be overstated for the future of the U.S. economy.”
As part of the NRI, NIST researchers lend their expertise in
nanoelectronics research, including a special focus on advancing the
science of measurement. The new awards should help expand the three-way
interaction between researchers in university, industry, and the NIST
laboratories on developing novel nanoelectronic devices for future
commercial applications.
Over 20 proposals for new research were received, both for individual
research projects and larger multi-university research programs. The
final awards will support and expand research efforts at NRI’s
regional nanoelectronics centers in the U.S., including the addition of
new universities and new projects to the three existing centers and the
recently announced startup of a new center, the Midwest Academy for
Nanoelectronics and Architectures in Notre Dame, Indiana. As a result,
eleven new universities have been added to the NRI center program.
The NRI is conducting broad research on new ways to create electronic
on-off switches and represent a digital ‘1’
or ‘0’ bit. NRI is
also exploring new ways to transfer data, new technologies to build and
cool these novel computational systems, and new ways to integrate the
new technologies with traditional silicon CMOS components. All of the
research, including the added projects, will be conducted in the four
NRI nanoelectronics multi-university centers. The final centers and
participating universities are summarized below.
Western Institute of Nanoelectronics (WIN), UCLA, Los Angeles, CA:
Existing center with UCLA, UC-Santa Barbara, UC-Berkeley, and Stanford,
now expanded with the addition of UC-Irvine, University of Denver,
Portland State University, and the University of Iowa. Research focuses
on spintronics devices and architectures, including new materials such
as multi-ferroics, dilute magnetic semiconductors, and nano-magnets.
Institute for Nanoelectronics Discovery and Exploration (INDEX), State
University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY: Existing center with
SUNY-Albany, MIT, GIT, Harvard, Purdue, RPI, and Yale, now expanded to
include Columbia, Caltech, North Carolina State University, and
University of Virginia. Research focuses on fabrication, modeling, and
characterization of several different nanoelectronic devices including
graphene-based, molecular, and excitonic devices.
South West Academy of Nanoelectronics (SWAN), University of Texas at
Austin, Austin, TX: Existing center with UT-Austin, UT-Dallas, Texas
A&M, Rice, Arizona State University, University of Maryland, and Notre
Dame, now expanded to include North Carolina State University and
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne. Research focuses on
simulation and theory for many areas of nanoelectronics, as well as
fabrication and metrology of devices, structures and interconnects,
including work on graphene, multi-ferroic materials, and plasmonics.
Midwest Academy for Nanoelectronics and Architectures, University of
Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN: New center with Notre Dame, Purdue,
University of Michigan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, and
Penn State. Research will focus on energy efficient devices and
architectures, and modeling of phonon management and energy dissipation.
Each of these centers receives significant additional support, both in
new infrastructure and funding for nanoelectronics research, from their
state government, as well as additional funds provided by SRC member
companies in the region of each center.
Companies already participating in NRI are Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.;
Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.; IBM Corp.; Intel Corp.; Micron
Technology, Inc.; and Texas Instruments, Inc. Senior scientists from
these companies as well as NIST help define and guide the NRI technical
program, as well as assign researchers to collaborate with the
university teams.
About SRC-NRI
NRI is one of three research program entities of SRC. Celebrating 26
years of collaborative research for the semiconductor industry, SRC
defines industry needs, invests in and manages the research that gives
its members a competitive advantage in the dynamic global marketplace.
Awarded the National Medal of Technology, America’s
highest recognition for contributions to technology, SRC expands the
industry knowledge base and attracts premier students to help innovate
and transfer semiconductor technology to the commercial industry. SRC
also seeks to leverage funding from global government agencies. For more
information, visit www.src.org and nri.src.org.
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