Network for Computational Nanotechnology - NEEDS Node

在未来十年左右的时间里，集成电路可能会达到其长期预测的规模限制，一个芯片上有数十亿个晶体管，价格也很便宜。与此同时，纳米技术正在创造新的材料、设备和计算范例，其中一些解决了数十亿晶体管芯片的挑战（例如光子/电子系统），而另一些则解决了令人兴奋的新机会（例如适形电子学和自供电、仿生、传感器/电子系统）。这些发展预示着一个新的电子时代，利用新的纳米工程材料和设备的能力，无论是单独或与强大的硅平台，以解决社会在能源，环境，安全和健康方面的挑战。只有首先创建新的标准化纳米器件模型和集成它们的工具，然后将其嵌入通用的设计框架中，使设计人员能够探索和开发这些创新的电路和系统，才能实现这一愿景。这项拟议的研究将开发将纳米电子科学转变为电子学所需的关键缺失环节，以适应新时代的准确，强大，和快速紧凑的模型，用于具有不同功能的纳米器件，适合设计人员在基于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NEEDS-SPICE平台将允许材料和设备专家自行开发这些新的紧凑模型，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，这些设计说明了纳米技术所带来的新时代电子产品的潜力。紧凑模型的发展将牢固地建立在基础材料科学和器件物理的基础上，并将通过实验验证。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，系统设计师和设备和材料纳米科学家将作为一个社区共同努力，实现纳米技术的承诺。智力优势：开发紧凑的模型，准确地捕捉新颖的纳米器件的基本物理是第一个智力挑战。对紧凑模型的要求是准确、稳健和有效地模拟，这使得模型开发具有挑战性和智力上的吸引力，但也非常有用。开发一个紧凑的模型是一个发现设备的基本物理原理并将其提炼成一个分析上紧凑的形式的过程，以满足强大和高效仿真的关键要求。其结果是适合设计人员使用的模型，但除此之外，这些模型还定义了设备物理学家和技术人员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，该平台涉及广泛的社区-允许模型开发人员专注于器件物理，而不是仿真算法，并为设计人员提供在开放/商业平台上运行的纳米器件的高质量模型。拟议中的研究将开发这个NEEDS-SPICE平台的基础上明确理解的物理nanodevices和基本的数学要求和软件结构的SPICE类simulators.Broader影响：开放内容的教育资源和开源软件的开发和传播将给这项研究产生重大影响。独特的教育资源将准备新一代的学生，研究人员和工程师，他们将受到启发和培训，以实现纳米技术的承诺。开源软件工具将使广泛的社区能够进行紧凑的模型开发，在nanoHUB.org内运行的NEEDS-SPICE平台将为广泛的模型开发人员和纳米系统设计人员社区提供服务，使该项目的影响远远超过其五年的持续时间。这些模型、软件平台和智能框架将引领低成本、分布式、可变容忍、可制造、集成纳米系统的新时代，以应对社会在能源、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.