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K.U.Leuven - Audiovisuele Dienst
Kapeldreef 62
B-3001 Leuven, BELGIUM
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Date

April 19, 2006

17h00-19h00

Nanotechnology for future electronics: "more Moore" and "beyond Moore"
Göran Wendin, Chalmers University

Due to the scaling down of microelectronics, the field has already entered the nanoelectronics era with commercial CMOS transistors for processors and memory having 50-100 nanometer dimensions. Moore's law suggests that around 2020 essential dimensions may reach the 5-10 nanometer range, which may make scaling break down for a number of reasons, including quantum effects, power dissipation and fabrication costs.

Presently nobody imagines that silicon and CMOS technology will be replaced in the near future, even by 2020. The discussion rather concerns "more of Moore", i.e. how to develop new types of semiconductor devices and architectures that fit into the old framework, and "beyond Moore", i.e. how to develop complementary nanoelectronics that can be integrated on silicon chips to extend the performance. Here e.g. molecular electronics could play a role. Moreover, quantum-effect devices involving controlled tunneling and resonance phenomena in semiconductor heterostructures might become important. Ballistic such devices can behave like wave guides for electrons and provide coherent devices based on interference effects. Ultimately, this brings us to quantum computing where superconducting electronic circuits and semiconductor quantum dots are currently intensely investigated in order to investigate the potential for developing "digital" quantum computers based on quantum bits - qubits.

Finally, a major application of nanoelectronics is most likely going to be to create interfaces between artificial and biological "computational matter", with potential for truly revolutionary development.