CAREER: Functionality-Enhanced Devices for Extending Moore's Law

这个职业项目的目的是开发高能效的计算系统，制造一个更“有用”的基本设备，而不是只关注它的性能。这使得能够解决“我们如何才能继续突破计算性能极限”这一关键的科学问题。40多年来，半导体生态系统通过制造尺寸越来越小的设备来满足对更高级别性能的需求。然而，仍然有一条基本上未被探索的路线来增加基本晶体管的基本开关原语，即增强它们的功能，而不是只专注于减小它们的尺寸和/或改善它们的性能。该项目也与工业相关，因为它提出了新的解决方案，在不过度扩大投资的情况下提高设备和系统的性能，以达到越来越大的集成度。更重要的是，这个职业项目(I)将包括研究生/本科生研究与工业直接相关的问题，最终提高他们的就业能力；(Ii)将开发一个科学普及YouTube频道，作为一种机制，通过利用K-12学生的在线好奇心来提高他们的兴趣并扩大他们的参与。拟议的研究旨在开发利用三独立栅极场效应晶体管(TIGFET)的新型计算系统，TIGFET是一种新型器件技术，能够实现标准CMOS通常无法实现的器件级功能，并在门级和电路级带来重大好处。根据用途的不同，TIGFET可以实现三种完全独特的工作模式：(I)器件极性的动态重新配置；(Ii)阈值电压的动态控制；以及(Iii)超过热极限的亚阈值斜率的动态控制。为了充分评估这项技术的潜力，这个职业项目将(1)使用先进的半导体材料制造、表征TIGFET并建立模型，(2)开发TIGFET的完整设计框架，包括设计套件、新的电路原语和专用设计工具，以及(3)评估启用TIGFET的低能量高精度神经网络计算内核。

This CAREER project intends to develop high-energy-efficiency computing systems by making a more "useful" elementary device rather than only focusing on its performances. This enables addressing the critical scientific question of "How can we keep pushing computing performance limits"?. For more than four decades, the semi-conductor ecosystem answered the demand for higher levels of performance by manufacturing devices with increasingly small dimensions. Nevertheless, there is still the largely unexplored route of increasing the basic switching primitive of the elementary transistors, i.e., enhancing their functionality rather than focusing only on reducing their size and/or improving their performances. This project is also relevant from an industrial perspective, as it proposes novel solutions to push device and systems performance without overextending investments to reach an ever-larger degree of integration. More importantly, this CAREER project (i) will involve graduate/undergraduate students tackling research on problems that are directly relevant for industry, ultimately boosting their employability, and (ii) will develop a scientific popularization YouTube channel as a mechanism to increase interest and broaden the participation of K-12 students by capitalizing on their online curiosity.The proposed research aims to developing novel computing systems exploiting Three-Independent-Gate Field Effect Transistors (TIGFETs), a novel device technology capable of device-level functionalities typically not achievable by standard CMOS and leading to major benefits at gate and circuit levels. A TIGFET can, depending on its usage, achieve three totally unique modes of operations: (i) the dynamic reconfiguration of the device polarity; (ii) the dynamic control of the threshold voltage; and (iii) the dynamic control of the subthreshold slope beyond the thermal limit. In order to fully assess the potential of this technology, this CAREER project will (1) fabricate, characterize and model TIGFETs using advanced semi-conductor materials, (2) develop a complete design framework for TIGFETs, including a design kit, novel circuit primitives and dedicated design tools, and (3) evaluate TIGFET-enabled low-energy high-precision neural network computing kernels.