CAREER: DNA-templated Assembly of Nanoscale Circuit Interconnects

这项教师早期职业发展(Career)计划拨款的目标是开发一种新的、强大的方法来组装纳米级设备终端之间的互连。纳米级的电路可以让速度更快的计算机、设备在纳米级操纵光，以及精密灵敏的分子检测系统。然而，目前这些设备进一步发展的一个主要障碍是制造困难。特别是，虽然有可能建造越来越多的单个纳米级设备，但组装和适当放置向这些设备提供输入和通道输出的互连(导线)仍然是一个重大挑战。该项目的工艺是点对点互连组装，使用附着在设备端子上的化学标记来指导互连细丝的组装。化学标记和细丝将由合成DNA构建，可用作组装各种功能互连的模板。基于DNA的互连过程将被动态描述，产量将被优化，以组装实际纳米设备终端之间的互连。这项研究将与专注于生物启发的纳米制造方法的教育和推广计划相结合。将开设本科和研究生水平的课程，学生将学习基本的编程和统计分析技能，这些技能可以应用于各个领域。研究生课程将帮助工程学学生理解生物信息处理，目标是开发受生物启发的制造方法。最后，高中生将参加实验室的研究项目，并将向参加机器人比赛的巴尔的摩的中学生和高中生介绍自组装和生物启发制造的讲座。

The goal of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program grant is to develop a novel, robust method of assembling interconnects between nanoscale device terminals. Nanoscale circuits could allow for faster computers, devices to manipulate light at the nanoscale and exquisitely sensitive molecular detection systems. However, a major current obstacle to the further development of these devices is the difficulty of manufacturing them. In particular, while it is possible to build an increasing number of individual nanoscale devices, assembling and properly placing interconnects (wires) that provide inputs to and channel outputs from these devices remains a major challenge. The project's process, point-to-point interconnect assembly, uses chemical markers attached to device terminals to direct the assembly of an interconnecting filament. The chemical markers and filaments will be constructed from synthetic DNA, which can be used as a template for the assembly of a variety of functional interconnects. The DNA-based interconnect process will be characterized dynamically and yield will be optimized for assembly of interconnects between actual nanoscale device terminals.This research will be integrated with a program for education and outreach focused on biologically inspired methods for nanoscale fabrication. Undergraduate and graduate level courses will be developed in which students will learn fundamental programming and statistical analysis skills that can be applied across fields. A graduate courses will help engineering students understand biological information processing with the goal of developing biologically inspired fabrication methods. Finally, high school students will participate in research projects in the laboratory and lectures on self-assembly and biologically inspired fabrication will be presented to middle and high school students from Baltimore who participate in robotics competitions.