FMRG: Bio: Manufacturing Ultra-High-Density DNA-Enabled Nanoelectronics Systems

设计、制造和集成基于半导体的设备的能力导致了信息技术革命。这一进步的关键是晶体管的尺寸从微米级减少到纳米级。然而，制造过程中的物理限制现在限制了尺寸的进一步减小，从而限制了电子设备的密度。或者，长期以来人们一直认为，分子级组件可以在电子系统中发挥作用，因为它们天然地驻留在纳米级，可以被合成来执行从整流和放大到传感和发光的一系列有趣的功能。然而，石墨烯纳米带、碳纳米管、纳米颗粒或单分子等纳米级组件与传统电子电路的强健、高成品率集成已被证明是具有挑战性的。为此，该项目旨在通过利用DNA纳米技术、合成生物学和纳米电子学的进步，促进可制造的基于DNA的电子产品的长期扩展。为了实现这一愿景，该项目专注于设计和制造一种自下而上的即插即用DNA纳米盒，该盒可以与传统的自上而下的电子电路集成，以创建超高密度系统。纳米盒平台将实现无数潜在的应用，作为最初的目标，该项目将专注于制造一种新型的廉价电子生物传感器，能够快速、同时检测数百种独特的生物分子(例如DNA或RNA)。这些传感器的直接应用范围从监测农业行业的供应链到病原体检测和疾病跟踪。此外，该项目包括两个HSI，旨在帮助培养一支包括不同背景(K-12、社区学院、四年制学院和研究型大学)的劳动力队伍，以便在这一新兴领域工作。研究目标和劳动力发展计划与外联努力相结合，旨在扩大STEM领域代表性不足群体的入学人数，为本科生提供教师培训和研究经验，并向K-12学生介绍尖端科学和工程。该项目提出了一种跨学科的方法，以发展制造超高密度碳基电子产品的基础。为了实现这一能力，研究团队将致力于催化一条利用DNA纳米技术的制造管道，以解决这些系统广泛使用的关键障碍。为了推进这一流水线，该项目集中于开发：(I)可扩展的、高纯度的方法，用于获得手性特定的碳纳米管、自对准的单分子结和分级组装的杂化DNA纳米结构；(Ii)利用场驱动、定向组装和微阵列液体分配过程的组合来集成自下而上和自上而下的结构的可靠方法；(Iii)用于设计和模拟DNA纳米结构、碳纳米管、它们的互连和它们的组装过程的电子性质的计算机辅助设计(CAD)和制造设计(DFM)工具；以及(Iv)一个框架，该框架将允许劳动力接受在合成生物学、DNA纳米技术、纳米电子学和制造业方面具有足够背景的培训，以帮助将该领域从前沿研究平台转移到美国的基础制造平台。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The ability to design, manufacture, and integrate semiconductor-based devices led to the Information Technology revolution. Key to this advance was the decrease in the size of transistors from the micron-scale to the nanometer-scale. However, physical limitations within the manufacturing process are now limiting further decreases in size and hence the density of electronic devices. Alternatively, it has long been imagined that molecular-scale components could play a role in electronic systems as they naturally reside at nanometer-scales and can be synthesized to perform an array of interesting functions from rectification and amplification to sensing and light emission. However, robust, high-yield integration of nanoscale components such as graphene nanoribbons, carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles, or single-molecules with conventional electronic circuits has proven to be challenging. Toward this end, this project aims to catalyze the long-term expansion of manufacturable DNA-based electronics by leveraging advances in DNA nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and nanoscale electronics. Toward this vision, this project focuses on designing and manufacturing a plug-and-play DNA nano-cartridge from the bottom-up that can be integrated with conventional, top-down electronic circuits to create ultra-high density systems. The nano-cartridge platform will enable a myriad of potential applications, and as an initial target the project will focus on manufacturing a novel class of inexpensive electronic biosensors capable of rapid, simultaneous detection of hundreds of unique biomolecules (e.g., DNA or RNA). Immediate applications for these sensors range from monitoring the supply chain in the agricultural industry to pathogen detection and disease tracking. In addition, this project, which includes two HSIs, aims to help prepare a workforce inclusive of diverse backgrounds (K-12, community colleges, four-year colleges and research universities) to work in this nascent field. The research goals and workforce development plan are integrated with an outreach effort aimed at expanding the enrollment of under-represented groups in STEM fields, providing teacher training and research experiences to undergraduate students, and introducing K-12 students to cutting-edge science and engineering. This project presents an interdisciplinary approach to developing a foundation for manufacturing ultra-high density, carbon-based electronics. To enable this capability, the research team will work to catalyze a manufacturing pipeline that leverages DNA nanotechnology to address critical roadblocks to the wide-spread use of these systems. To advance this pipeline, this project focuses on developing: (i) scalable, high-purity methods for obtaining chiral-specific carbon nanotubes, self-aligned single-molecule junctions, and hierarchically assembled hybrid DNA nanostructures; (ii) reliable methodologies for integrating bottom-up and top-down architectures utilizing a combination of field-driven, directed-assembly and microarray liquid dispensing processes; (iii) computer aided design (CAD) and design for manufacturing (DFM) tools for designing and modeling the electronic properties of DNA nanostructures, carbon nanotubes, their interconnects, and their assembly processes; and (iv) a framework that will allow a workforce to be trained with a sufficient background in synthetic biology, DNA nanotechnology, nanoscale electronics, and manufacturing to help move this field from a leading-edge research platform to a foundational manufacturing platform in the United States.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.