Functional Oxide Reconfigurable Technologies (FORTE): A Programme Grant

我们的愿景是通过开发和实现一种电子系统的新方法来振兴现代电子设备，该方法将可重构性、可伸缩性、操作灵活性/弹性、功率效率和成本效益结合在一起。这一愿景将通过突破几乎所有现代电子产品都基于的大规模但全面探索的cmos技术领域来实现，消费者和非消费者都是如此。在我们所有人随身携带的技术中引入前所未有的新型纳米电子元件，将引入迄今为止由于当前硬件技术的限制而无法实现的新功能。由此产生的工程师以更低的功率成本在更小的区域中挤压更多计算能力的能力将释放出以下可能性：a)真正无处不在的物联网计算，其中消耗几乎为零功率的微小传感器监视我们周围的世界，并为我们的选择提供信息；b)真正智能的植入物，在极其有限的功率和尺寸预算内，不仅可以与大脑交互，而且可以以有意义的方式处理这些数据，并将结果发送给例如医生，或者甚至将其反馈到大脑进行进一步处理，c)防辐射电子设备将部署在卫星和飞机上，在构建这一愿景的过程中，我们的项目将实现一系列科学和商业目标：i)开发纳米电子元件(记忆)技术的基础，使其成为一般工业设计师的商业选择。Ii)建立完全支持的(模型、工具、设计规则等)端到端设计基础设施，以便任何人都可以使用当今用于电子设计的行业标准软件，以便在他们的设计中使用记忆技术。Iii)引入一种新的设计模式，将记忆技术与传统的模拟和数字电路紧密结合，以提供任何人单独无法达到的性能。这包括设计原始的硬件模块，这些模块可以作为更高级别设计的构建块，使工程师能够构建大规模系统，而无需担心忆阻器操作的复杂细节。Iv)积极培养用户群体，鼓励他们探索我们的工作产生的潜在商业影响和进一步的科学发展，同时通过合作等方式向项目提供反馈。(V)尽早开始将拟议研究中最成熟的方面商业化，以便在英国创造就业机会。通过以下方式存在着巨大的翻译机会：a)项目成果的直接商业化，特别开发的应用程序(在实验室进行验证，然后获得风险投资资金并商业化)，b)产生新的电子设计(知识产权/设计局模式；使英国成为基于记忆技术的电子产品的全球设计中心)，以及c)销售为帮助加速项目而开发的工具(仪器、CAD和支持软件)。我们的团队(学术界和产业界)是实现这一颠覆性愿景的理想之选，它将使我们的社会能够有效地扩展电子产品的运营范围，使其能够在恶劣的环境中使用，并以负担得起的价格重复使用或重新使用电子产品。

Our vision is to rejuvenate modern electronics by developing and enabling a new approach to electronic systems where reconfigurability, scalability, operational flexibility/resilience, power efficiency and cost-effectiveness are combined. This vision will be delivered by breaking out of the large, but comprehensively explored realm of CMOS technology upon which virtually all modern electronics are based; consumer and non-consumer alike.Introducing novel nanoelectronic components never before used in the technology we all carry around in our phones will introduce new capabilities that have thus far been unattainable due to the limitations of current hardware technology. The resulting improved capability of engineers to squeeze more computational power in ever smaller areas at ever lower power costs will unlock possibilities such as: a) truly pervasive Internet-of-Things computing where minute sensors consuming nearly zero power monitor the world around us and inform our choices, b) truly smart implants that within extremely limited power and size budgets can not only interface with the brain, but also process that data in a meaningful way and send the results either onwards to e.g. a doctor, or even feed it back into the brain for further processing, c) radiation-resistant electronics to be deployed in satellites and aeroplanes, civilian and military and improve communication reliability while driving down maintenance costs.In building this vision, our project will deliver a series of scientific and commercial objectives: i) Developing the foundations of nanoelectronic component (memristive) technologies to the point where it becomes a commercially available option for the general industrial designer. ii) Setting up a fully supported (models, tools, design rules etc.), end-to-end design infrastructure so that anyone with access to industry standard software used for electronics design today may utilise memristive technology in their design. iii) Introduce a new design paradigm where memristive technologies are intimately integrated with traditional analogue and digital circuitry in order to deliver performance unattainable by any in isolation. This includes designing primitive hardware modules that can act as building-blocks for higher level designs, allowing engineers to construct large-scale systems without worrying about the intricate details of memristor operation. iv) Actively foster a community of users, encouraged to explore potential commercial impact and further scientific development stemming from our work whilst feeding back into the project through e.g. collaborations. v) Start early by beginning to commercialise the most mature aspects of the proposed research as soon as possible in order to create jobs in the UK. Vast translational opportunities exist via: a) The direct commercialisation of project outcomes, specifically developed applications (prove in lab, then obtain venture capital funding and commercialise), b) The generation of novel electronic designs (IP / design bureau model; making the UK a global design centre for memristive technology-based electronics) and c) Selling tools developed to help accelerate the project (instrumentation, CAD and supporting software). Our team (academic and industry) is ideally placed for delivering this disruptive vision that will allow our society to efficiently expand the operational envelope of electronics, enabling its use in formidable environments as well as reuse or re-purpose electronics affordably.