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，在一个芯片上可以以商品价格获得数十亿个晶体管。与此同时，纳米技术正在创造新的材料、设备和计算范式，其中一些解决了数十亿晶体管芯片（如光子/电子系统）的挑战，而另一些则解决了令人兴奋的新机遇（如共形电子、自供电、仿生、传感器/电子系统）。这些发展预示着一个电子新时代的到来——利用新型纳米工程材料和器件的能力，或者单独使用，或者与强大的硅平台相结合，来解决社会在能源、环境、安全和健康方面的挑战。要实现这一愿景，必须首先创建新的标准化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。这项拟议的研究将开发将纳米电子科学转化为新时代电子学所需的关键缺失环节，精确、稳健、快速、紧凑的纳米器件模型具有多种功能，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need - 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，并使设计人员能够立即在开放/商业spice模拟器中使用它们。这项工作将受到创新系统设计的推动，这些系统设计说明了纳米技术实现的新时代电子技术的潜力。紧凑模型的发展将牢固地扎根于基础材料科学和器件物理，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、设备和材料纳米科学家将作为一个社区一起工作，以实现纳米技术的前景。智力优势：开发能够准确捕捉新型纳米器件基本物理特性的紧凑模型是第一个智力挑战。对精确、健壮和有效地模拟紧凑模型的需求使得这样的模型开发具有挑战性和智力上的吸引力，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满足鲁棒和高效仿真关键要求的分析紧凑形式的过程。结果是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理解和思考设备的方式。第二个智力挑战是创建一个模块化的模型开发和仿真平台，这个平台可以吸引广泛的社区——允许模型开发人员专注于器件物理，而不是仿真算法，并为设计人员提供高质量的纳米器件模型，这些模型可以在开放/商业平台上稳定运行。拟议的研究将基于对纳米器件的物理特性、潜在的数学要求和类似spice的模拟器的软件结构的清晰理解来开发这个需求- spice平台。更广泛的影响：开放内容教育资源和开源软件的发展和传播将给本研究带来重大影响。独特的教育资源将培养新一代的学生、研究人员和工程师，他们将受到启发和训练，以实现纳米技术的前景。开源软件工具将使广泛社区的紧凑模型开发成为可能，而在nanoHUB.org内部运行的需求- spice平台将为广泛社区的模型开发人员和纳米系统设计人员提供服务，使该项目的影响远远超过其五年的持续时间。要开发的模型、软件平台和智能框架将引领一个低成本、分布式、耐变化、可制造、集成纳米系统的新时代，解决社会在能源、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.