SemiSynBio: Collaborative Research: DNA-based Electrically Readable Memories

几十年来，工程师们一直致力于开发一种低成本、可靠、高密度和非易失性的通用存储技术。理想情况下，这项技术可以被快速写入、读取或擦除，并且可以在任何定义的状态下无限期持续。然而，目前的技术寿命有限，往往难以写入，消耗大量电力，并且无法维持当前的全球数据增长。另一方面，生物系统在数十亿年前就解决了这个问题，使用脱氧核糖核酸(DNA)和酶方法来读取、写入和擦除数据。事实上，人类平均每天写入40艾字节的数据，而消耗的能源相对较少。此外，这些数据可以存储数百年或数千年。因此，DNA为开发下一代电子设备的存储技术提供了一个独特而有趣的平台。然而，为了利用其惊人的存储能力并成为可行的存储技术竞争者，必须检查和克服一些重要的技术和基础障碍。作为实现这一目标的第一步，该提议旨在创造一种基于DNA的只读存储器(ROM)，它可以根据需要进行图案化、放置和编程，可以进行电子读取，并且能够与传统的半导体电子设备接口，用于长期数据存储和检索。为了实现这一目标，我们建立了一个协作的、多学科的团队，致力于生物系统、电气和计算机工程以及电荷传输物理的联系。该团队在DNA纳米结构的控制和组装、纳米和分子电子系统以及纳米电子设备的理论和建模方面拥有专业知识。该团队将与学生和初级研究人员合作，了解和控制基于DNA的纳米结构的电荷传输特性，组装基于DNA的存储设备和电路，开发用于对这些系统进行建模和编程的工具，并培养能够在生物学和纳米/电气工程之间的接口工作的新一代科学家和工程师。参与该项目的研究生将获得涉及电气工程、设备物理、化学、生物化学和材料科学的跨学科培训。此外，这一跨学科研究项目还与一个扩展计划相结合，该计划旨在扩大STEM领域中代表性不足的少数族裔和女性学生的入学人数，为本科生提供研究经验，并向K-12学生介绍尖端的科学和工程问题。要充分利用DNA作为基于半导体的系统中通用存储平台的优势，必须能够以电子方式访问和读取其中的信息。要发展这种翻译能力，需要几个技术和基础的进步。该项目的目标是开发一种用于创建基于DNA的电读存储系统的方法。具体地说，这项建议的目的是：i)优化和控制使用自下而上的自组装技术生长的DNA纳米线的电荷传输特性，使用分子和离子掺杂剂的组合以及无机结构的模板化生长；ii)通过研究序列、结构和长度对传输特性的影响来开发用于创建基于DNA的多级存储单元的设计规则；iii)结合这些知识来开发基于DNA的交叉导线(X线)只读存储系统；iv)开发预测传输模型来模拟这种存储结构的功能；以及v)开发可用于对大规模存储器架构的自组装进行编程的计算机辅助设计(CAD)工具。这种方法的成功将为碳基电子产品、存储技术和基于DNA的纳米组装创造翻译能力，该项目的广度将在各种领域产生新的知识。它将：i)加强我们对DNA固有电荷传输特性的基本了解；ii)提供关于如何在化学上控制这些特性以实现所需电响应的见解；iii)为如何放大DNA纳米结构的自组装提供新的见解；iv)帮助开发用于模拟和控制基于DNA的存储器的组装和可寻址的新的CAD工具；v)提供关于如何将生物材料与传统半导体技术接口的基础信息；vi)将DNA自组装的用途推进到纳米级电子材料的新制造平台；vii)实现在这些自下而上的混合系统中传输建模的新方法；以及viii)提供关于用于下一代计算的新型存储器体系结构的信息。在这些领域发展的知识将使自下而上具有所需功能的碳基纳米级电子设备的设计成为可能。更广泛地说，该项目的成功将提供一个广泛的、系统的框架，可以遵循这个框架来开发用于纳米电子材料的独特的电子设备范例。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。

For decades engineers have aimed to develop a universal memory technology that was low cost, reliable, high density, and non-volatile. Ideally, this technology could be quickly written, read, or erased, and would last indefinitely in any defined state. However, current technologies have limited lifetimes, are often arduous to write, consume significant amounts of power, and are not capable of sustaining the current global data growth. Biological systems on the other hand, solved this problem billions of years ago using deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA) coupled with enzymatic methods for reading, writing, and erasing the data. In fact, the average human writes 40 exabytes of data each day while consuming comparatively little energy. Moreover, this data can be stored for hundreds or thousands of years. Thus, DNA represents a unique and interesting platform for developing memory technologies for the next generation of electronic devices. However, in order to leverage its phenomenal storage capabilities and become a viable memory technology contender, a number of important technical and fundamental hurdles must be examined and overcome. As an initial step toward this goal, this proposal aims to create a DNA-based Read-Only Memory (ROM) that can be patterned, placed, and programmed as desired, can be read electrically, and is capable of interfacing with conventional semiconductor electronics for long-term data storage and retrieval. To achieve this goal, we have established a collaborative, multidisciplinary team working at the nexus of biological systems electrical and computer engineering and charge transport physics. This Team has expertise in the control and assembly of DNA nanostructures, nano- and molecular electronic systems, and the theory and modeling of nanoscale electronic devices. Together, this team will work with students and junior researchers to understand and control the charge transport properties of DNA-based nanostructures, to assemble DNA-based memory devices and circuits, to develop tools for modeling and programming these systems, and to train a new generation of scientists and engineers capable of working at the interface between biology and nano/electrical engineering. Graduate students involved in this project, will obtain interdisciplinary training involving electrical engineering, device physics, chemistry, biochemistry, and material science. In addition, this transdisciplinary research project is also integrated with an outreach program aimed at expanding the enrollment of under-represented minorities and female students in STEM fields, providing research experience for undergraduate students, and introducing K-12 students to cutting edge science and engineering problems.To fully harness the advantages of DNA for a general memory platform within semiconductor-based systems, it must be possible to access and read information from it electronically. To develop this translational capability, several technological and fundamental advances are required. It is the goal of this project to develop methods for creating an electrically readable DNA-based memory system. Specifically, this proposal aims: i) to optimize and control the charge transport properties of DNA-nanowires grown using bottom-up self-assembly techniques using a combination of molecular and ionic dopants, and templated growth of inorganic structures; ii) to develop design rules for creating DNA-based multi-level memory cells by examining the effects of sequence, structure, and length on the transport properties; iii) to combine this knowledge to develop DNA-based cross-wire (X-wire) read-only memory systems; iv) to develop predictive transport models to simulate the functionality of this memory architecture; and v) to develop Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tools that can be used to program the self-assembly of large-scale memory architectures. The success of this approach will create translational capabilities for carbon-based electronics, memory technologies, and DNA-based nano-assemblies, and the breadth of this project will result in new knowledge in a variety of realms. It will: i) enhance our fundamental understanding of the inherent charge transport properties of DNA; ii) provide insights into how to chemically control these properties to achieve the desired electrical responses; iii) provide new insights into how to scale-up the self-assembly of DNA nanostructures; iv) aid the development of new CAD tools for modeling and controlling the assembly and addressability of DNA-based memories; v) provide foundational information about how to interface biological materials with conventional semiconductor technologies; vi) advance the utility of DNA self-assembly to a novel manufacturing platform for nanoscale electronic materials; vii) enable new methodologies for modeling transport in these bottom-up hybrid systems; and viii) provide information about novel memory architectures for next-generation computation. The knowledge developed in these areas will enable the design of carbon-based, nanoscale electronic devices with desired functionality from the bottom-up. And more generally, the success of this project will provide a broad, systematic framework that can be followed to develop unique electronic device paradigms for nanoscale electronic materials.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.