Computational Design of Next Generation Nanoelectronic Materials

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With nanoelectronics continuing to scale from the current 22 nm technology node and enter new applications in the medical, energy, defense, and space industries, a critical need is arising for high performance and high reliability electronic devices that is not met by existing technologies. At the intense electrical current, field, and power densities required to operate at the nanoscale, both performance and reliability are fundamentally compromised by material lifetimes. The aim of this program is to enhance the performance and reliability of nanoelectronic materials through computational design, and thereby enable new nanoelectronics applications and technologies in the medical, energy, defense, and space industries. Specifically, nanoelectronic materials electrical stressing through electromigration, carrier bond breaking, and joule heating, will be explored in four key nanoelectronic materials technology thrusts: metal interconnects, insulating dielectrics, semiconductors, and phase change memory materials. Within each of these technology thrusts, respectively, the precise objectives of the research program are to: (1) design optimal copper alloying solutions to achieve extended metal interconnect lifetimes; (2) discover and neutralize the time-dependent breakdown pathways in low-k interconnect dielectrics; (3) design bias instability free semiconductor channels for complementary logic architectures; (4) tailor phase change transition stressing and drift in chalcogenide materials for solid state memory applications. These four related research directions lie at the heart of nanoelectronics technology development. This program will meet these information technology milestones by providing urgently needed computer aided design simulation tools. Moreover, the research outcomes and methods developed in this program will also widely impact upon electronic materials in many other fields, including: solar energy, solid state lighting, nanolasers, photodetectors, chemical detection, and sensors for gene sequencing.