Network for Computational Nanotechnology - NEEDS Node

在未来十年左右的时间里，集成电路很可能达到其长期预测的规模极限，以大宗商品价格计算，一块芯片上将有数十亿个晶体管。与此同时，纳米技术正在创造新的材料、设备和计算模式，其中一些解决了10亿晶体管芯片的挑战(例如光子/电子系统)，而另一些则解决了令人兴奋的新机会(例如共形电子和自供电、仿生、传感器/电子系统)。这些发展预示着一个新的电子时代，这个时代将单独或与强大的硅平台一起利用新型纳米工程材料和设备的能力，以应对社会在能源、环境、安全和健康方面的挑战。只有首先创建新的标准纳米器件模型和集成它们的工具，然后将其嵌入到一个通用的设计框架中，使设计师能够探索和开发这些创新的电路和系统，才能实现这一愿景。这项拟议的研究将开发将纳米电子科学转化为电子产品所需的关键缺失环节，以适应新时代将纳米电子科学转化为电子产品所需的准确、坚固和快速的紧凑模型，这些模型具有多种功能，适合设计师在基于SPICE的设计环境中立即使用。该团队将开发一套紧凑的模型，但同样重要的是，它将创建一个完整的模型开发和仿真平台。这个需要-SPICE平台将允许材料和设备方面的专家自行开发这些新的紧凑型模型，并将使设计师能够立即在开放/商业SPICE类模拟器中使用它们。这项工作将受到创新系统设计的推动，这些系统设计展示了由纳米技术实现的新时代电子产品的潜力。紧凑模型的开发将以基础材料科学和器件物理为坚实基础，并将得到实验验证。在这项研究的过程中，该团队将定义一种“语言”，并创建一套工具，通过这些工具，系统设计师和设备和材料纳米科学家将作为一个社区共同努力，实现纳米技术的前景。智力上的优点：开发能够准确捕捉新型纳米设备的基本物理原理的紧凑模型是第一个智力挑战。对紧凑模型的准确、健壮和高效模拟的要求使得这种模型开发具有挑战性和智力上的说服力，但也非常有用。开发紧凑模型是发现设备的基本物理原理并将其提炼成解析紧凑形式的过程，该形式满足健壮和高效模拟的关键要求。结果产生了适合设计师使用的模型，但除此之外，这些模型还定义了设备物理学家和技术专家对设备的理解和思考方式。第二个智力挑战是创建一个模块化的模型开发和模拟平台，该平台涉及一个广泛的社区-使模型开发人员能够专注于设备物理，而不是模拟算法，并使设计人员能够获得在开放/商业平台上运行的纳米设备的高质量模型。这项研究将在清楚了解纳米器件的物理以及类SPICE模拟器的基本数学要求和软件结构的基础上，开发这一需求-SPICE平台。广泛影响：开放内容教育资源和开源软件的开发和传播将给这项研究带来重大影响。独特的教育资源将培养新一代学生、研究人员和工程师，他们将受到启发和培训，以实现纳米技术的前景。开源软件工具将使一个广泛的社区能够进行紧凑的模型开发，而在nanHUB.org内部运行的Need-SPICE平台将为广泛的模型开发人员和纳米系统设计师社区提供服务，使该项目产生长期的影响--超过其五年的持续时间。即将开发的模型、软件平台和智能框架将引领一个低成本、分布式、容忍变化、可制造、集成的纳米系统的新时代，以应对社会在能源、环境、安全和健康方面的挑战。

Within the next decade or so, integrated circuits are likely to reach their long forecasted scaling limits, with billions of transistors on a chip available at commodity prices. At the same time, nanotechnology is creating new materials, devices and computing paradigms, some of which address the challenges of billion transistor chips (e.g. photonic/electronic systems), while others address exciting new opportunities (e.g. conformal electronics, and self powered, biomimetic, sensor/electronic systems). These developments promise a new era of electronics one that harnesses the capabilities of novel nanoengineered materials and devices either alone or in conjunction with powerful silicon platforms to address society's challenges in energy, the environment, security, and health. This vision can only be achieved if new standardized models of nanodevices and tools to integrate them are first created and then embedded in a versatile design framework that gives designers the ability to explore and develop these innovative circuits and systems.This proposed research will develop the critical missing link needed to transform nanoelectronic science into electronics for a new era accurate, robust, and fast compact models for nanodevices with diverse functionalities that are suitable for immediate use by designers in SPICE-based, design environment. The team will develop a suite of compact models, but, equally important, it will create a complete model development and simulation platform. This NEEDS-SPICE platform will allow experts in materials and devices to develop these new compact models on their own, and will enable designers to immediately use them in open/commercial SPICE-like simulators. The work will be motivated by innovative system designs that illustrate the potential of new-era electronics enabled by nanotechnology. The developmentof compact model will be firmly grounded in fundamental materials science and device physics, and will be experimentally validated. In the process of this research, the team will define a "language" and create a set of tools through which system designers and device and materials nanoscientists will work together as a community to realize the promise of nanotechnology.Intellectual Merit: The development of compact models that accurately capture the essential physics of novel nanodevices is the first intellectual challenge. The requirements for a compact model to simulate accurately, robustly, and efficiently make such model development challenging and intellectually compelling, but also profoundly useful. Developing a compact model is a process of discovering the essential physical principles of a device and distilling them into an analytically compact form that satisfies crucial requirements for robust and efficient simulation. The result is models suitable for use by designers, but beyond this, the models also define the way device physicists and technologists understand and think about devices. The second intellectual challenge is the creation of a modular, model development and simulation platform that engages a broad community - allowing model developers to focus on device physics, rather than on simulation algorithms and giving designers access to high-quality models for nanodevices that run robustly on open/commercial platforms. The proposed research will develop this NEEDS-SPICE platform based on a clear understanding of the physics of nanodevices and of the underlying mathematical requirements and software structure of SPICE-like simulators.Broader Impacts: The development and dissemination of open content educational resources and opensource software will give this research significant impact. Unique educational resources will prepare a new generation of students, researchers, and engineers who will be inspired and trained to realize the promise of nanotechnology. Open-source software tools will enable compact model development by a broad community, and the NEEDS-SPICE platform operating inside nanoHUB.org will serve a broad community of model developers and nanosystem designers giving this project impact long-beyond its five-year duration. The models, software platform, and intellectual framework to be developed will lead to a new era of low-cost, distributed, variation-tolerant, manufacturable, integrated nanosystems that address society's challenges in energy, the environment, security, and health.