International Center on Design for Nanotechnologies

本研究旨在解决纳米技术的设计问题，特别关注架构层面和集成层面。研究任务包括调查和开发用于新兴纳米技术的有效设计方法、算法和微架构，包括纳米CMOS和超越CMOS的候选技术。我们计划使用纳米fpga（纳米现场可编程门组件）作为架构/平台驱动程序来探索纳米技术设计中的各种问题。规律性和可重构性使纳米fpga成为支持纳米技术设计可靠性和复杂性要求的理想候选器件。基于这个驱动，我们将探索新的技术来实现高可靠性和错误弹性设计，以克服新的纳米器件可能的缺陷和不确定性行为。这项研究项目的成果将是创新的设计方法、工具和算法，一旦纳米技术变得可用和实用，就能实现高效和经济的设计解决方案。更广泛的影响国家纳米技术计划（NNI）已经确定纳米电子学作为下一代信息技术设备之一，作为九个“大挑战”领域之一，因为该领域的创新具有潜在的重大经济和社会影响。虽然现阶段大多数纳米技术的创新主要是在单个设备层面，但在系统层面才能实现纳米技术的真正潜力。该项目对设计方法和系统级问题的独特关注，如架构设计、健壮性和容错能力，将有助于加速可行纳米电子系统的开发。另一方面，在这个早期阶段，纳米技术研究需要大量的投资，并且在本质上是真正的前竞争，这使它成为国际合作的理想候选者，这样我们就可以利用全球投资和协调这一领域的研究工作。​除研究合作外，我们还将启动一项教育项目，使美国学生和年轻研究人员能够访问参与国，参加研讨会、联合研究、学生交流等。它将帮助他们了解这些地区的文化、科技和经济发展，从而培养具有国际视野和经验的未来领导者所需的科学人才和社会交往技能。

Intellectual MeritThe proposed research addresses the design issues for nanotechnologies, with a special focus on the architectural level and the integration level. The research tasks include investigation and development of efficient design methodologies, algorithms, and microarchitectures for the emerging nanotechnologies, including both nano-CMOS and technology candidates beyond CMOS. We plan to use nano-FPGA (nano-Field Programmable Gate Assembly) as an architecture/platform driver to explore various issues in nanotechnology designs. The regularity and reconfigurability makes nano-FPGA an ideal candidate to support the reliability and complexity requirements of designs in nanotechnologies. Based on this driver, we will explore novel techniques to achieve highly reliable and error-resilient designs to overcome likely defects and non-deterministic behavior of new nanodevices. The outcome of this research project will be innovative design methodologies, tools, and algorithms that enable efficient and economic design solutions for nanotechnologies as soon as they become available and practical. Broader ImpactThe National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) has identified nanoelectronics, one of the next generation of information technology devices, as one of nine "Grand Challenge" areas because of the potentially significant economic and societal impact of innovations in this area. While most innovations in nanotechnology at this stage are primarily at the level of individual devices, it is at the systems level where the true potential of nanotechnology can be realized. The rather unique focus of this project on design methodologies and systems-level issues, such as design of architectures, robustness, and error-resilience, will help accelerate the development of viable nanoelectronic systems. On the other hand, at this early stage, nanotechnology research requires extensive investment and is truly pre-competitive in nature, which makes it an ideal candidate for international collaboration so that we can leverage the global investment and coordinate research efforts in this area. Therefore, we will explore international collaboration opportunities with researchers and educators from leading universities in Taiwan, and China in this target area. In addition to research collaboration, we will initiate an educational program that will enable U.S. students and young researchers to visit the participating countries for workshops, joint research, student exchanges, etc. It will help them appreciate the culture, technology, and economic development of these regions, thus developing the scientific talents and social interaction skills required of future leaders with international vision and experience.