Congressional

Nanotechnology Caucus
September 10, 2007

Nanotechnology
Electronics and
Photonics
Walt Trybula, Ph.D.
IEEE Fellow & SPIE Fellow
Director
NANOMATERIALS APPLICATION CENTER
http://www.nanotxstate.org
Texas State University-San Marcos

Objective of
Presentation
Present an update on the status of nano
technology developments in Electronics and
Photonics
Provide a glimpse of the challenges of
implementing nano technology in these
areas
Highlight some advantages of implementing
the nano technology into products
Indicate the importance of moving forward
with nano technology implementations

Format Employed for

Examples
Topic:
A picture or description is
employed to indicate the
device or structure being
described

Issues:
A short listing of some of the
issues that are inhibiting the
application of the specific
example and will typically
include an indication of the
sizes involved

Potential Solutions:
This list contains actions that
must be continued/started to
develop the specific example
to either a concept feasibility
state or a production worthy
state

Benefits:
This list indicates some of the
advantages of developing
products that will employ the
device or structure described

Semiconductor
Conductivity
Issues:
Line widths of less than
50nm may have
conductivity issues due to
grain boundaries and
crystal orientations
Resultant impact on device
performance and yield
Potential Solutions:
Revert to Aluminum
conductors with an associated
loss in properties
Enhanced uniformity of
copper with lower actual
conductivity
Develop new processes and
equipment

Benefits:
Improved performance
Higher yields and lower costs
Improved designs and
functionality

Transistor Evolution
Future: 15 years
Non-classical CMOS
source

Gate
drain

Beyond CMOS
Potential Solutions:
Continued research and
development
Develop understanding of
operational characteristics
Industry/academia involvement
in materials and functionality
evaluations

Issues:
Sizes under 20nm
Manufacturing capability
Developing theoretical
understanding
Experimental data
Radical change from experience
Benefits:
Continue on with existing
devices
Extension of Moores Law
Existing infrastructure continues
to support the industry

What is the
Infrastructure?
For Semiconductors Lithography

Exposure tools (create images)

Mask (pattern for exposure tools)
Resist (Form images on wafer)
Metrology (measure/characterize images)

[each line above has a corresponding infrastructure]

Wire

Mask Infrastructure Example

Via

Pattern Generator
Mask Substrate Material
Inspection Tools
Repair Tools
Laser Repair
Focused Ion Beam (FIB) Repair
E-beam Repair
The nano
region

2 June 2003

Quantum Dot Transistors

Issues:
Primary designs require
extremely low temperatures
Possible room-temperature
designs would require 10nm
features
Material fabrication is not on
silicon
Potential Solutions:
New material solutions
Improved III-V compound
semiconductors

Benefits:
Reduce number of transistors per
circuit function
New opportunities for innovative
designs
Enhanced security

Gated quantum wire in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure 2DEG.

Prof. Gregory Spencer Texas State University

Novel Memory
Issues:

Existing memory density

Spacings below 20nm

Interconnections

Failure mechanisms

Power requirements

Potential Solutions:
Nanowire applications
Innovative lithography below
32nm
Self-assembly of interconnects
Self-assembly of memory units
Molecular storage

Picture courtesy of M. Meyyappan

Benefits:
Increased density of storage
Dense solid state memory
Improved switching times
Faster computing with greater
memory access

Molecular Electronics

Konstantin Likharev, The Industrial Physicist, June/July 2003, p.20

Changed Material
Properties
Melting point of Gold

Potential Solutions:
Quantify and classify the
material properties in the range
between bulk material properties
and quantum phenomena
Establish an effort to develop a
database of material properties
with contributions from
researchers

Issues:
Material properties change as
the size of the material becomes
smaller
Majority of changes start to
occur between 20nm and 10nm
Some material properties are
known, many are not
Benefits:
Improve the time to develop
nano based devices, due to
eliminating the duplication of
research efforts
Creation of new products based
on applying novel nano properties
Example: Creating gold
conductors on material that
melts below 500oC and produces
enhanced flexible devices

Nanowires
Issues:
Research applications with
dimensions below 20nm
Manufacturing processes rely on
fabrication in forms
Large scale, ordered fabrication
is not available
Potential Solutions
Development of new processes
based on ongoing research
Additional efforts in related
materials
Improved processes/equipment

Benefits:
Unique electrical and optical
properties
Building units for devices
Wire diameter change results in
band gap changes, which implies
customizable effects

Ray Solanki, Oregon Science and Health University, Feb.23, 2004 issue Applied Physics Letter

Carbon Nano Tubes

(CNT)
Issues:
Production of Single Walled CNTs
yield a mixture of types
(dimensions to less than 1nm)
Metallic
Semiconductive
Separation of types is time
consuming
Benefits:
Novel electronic devices
High temperature applications
Improved microscopy
Potential Solutions
Continue development efforts

Solar Cells (Organic)

Issues:
Efficiencies
Material development
Manufacturing processes

Potential Solutions
Development of organic plastics
with improved efficiency
Development of adsorptive dyes
Flexible conductors
Enhanced property covering
material

Benefits:
Low cost energy
Inexpensive to manufacture
yielding to wide spread
applications

Credit: Nicole Cappello and the Georgia Institute of Technology

New Material Properties

Issues:
Unanticipated properties are
being found in nano materials
Example:

Potential Solutions:
Quantify and classify the
material properties in the range
between bulk material properties
and quantum phenomena
Establish a program to employ
theoretical projections to verify
experimental data

Thirteen atoms of Silver

have been shown theoretically
to be magnetic
Thirteen atoms of Platinum
have been experimentally
shown to be magnetic

Benefits:
Improve the time to develop
nano based devices, due to
eliminating the duplication of
research efforts
Creation of new products based
on applying novel nano properties
Example: The creation of new
Silver properties reported May 30, 2006 in NanoTechWeb
memory devices that are 100x
Platinum experiments reported by University of Stuttgart

Metrology
Au dot structure
&
Nanowire Twinning

Potential Solutions:
New solutions for metrology
Enhancements to equipment
New technologies

Aberration Corrected HR-TEM

Korgel Group Si Nanowire

Issues:
Imaging realm is at limits of
resolution, in the 1nm range
Time per image is long >one
hour
Effective imaging applications
require multiple images in
minutes or less
Benefits:
Improved resolution of material
properties
Capability to employ in
manufacturing processes
If one can not measure
something, it can not be
manufactured

Metrology
Aberration Corrected TEM Imaging

Corrected
Not corrected
K & I in nanotube

Potential Solutions
Development and execution of
validation plan
Improved algorithms
Improved equipment for rapid
imaging

Sloan, et al., MRS Bulletin, April 2004

Issues:
Imaging is slow and
computations are time consuming
Unique structures can not be
verified
No validation results
Dimensions extend to below
1nm
Benefits:
Improved understanding of
materials
Ability to identify unique nano
structures
Ability to create and verify novel
materials

Photonics
Issues:
Many developmental
applications, no outstanding hit
in the publics awareness
Much solid, but diverse research
without significant cross discipline
fertilization
Potential Solutions
Continue/expand the research
efforts, especially in health and
energy
Encourage development of
technology to support national
priorities

S. R. J. Brueck, University of New Mexico

Benefits:
Numerous application with
substantially enhanced
performance in health and
military applications
Sensor technology connected to
electronics will provide improved
diagnostic capability

Optical Transmission on
a Chip
Issues:
Devices are in early prototype
stages
Testing and evaluation of devices
to ensure reliability
Integration with existing
circuitry
Potential Solutions
Commercialization development
High performance applications
employing alternative materials
Integration into wide spread use
based on reduced costs

Intel picture April 2004 in DeviceForce.com

Benefits:
High speed data communications
Built in Self Test
Projected 20Gps transfer rates

Why Employ Photonics?

Signals travel at the speed of light
Photons, unlike electrons have no weight
and create no resistance.
Focused light generated by lasers
constitutes the highest concentration of
energy known on earth
A pulse of photons can be as short as onemillionth of a billionth of a second, the
dimension of time in which molecular and
atomic reactions take place
Light beams are well-suited not only to
help us see, but also to hold and
manipulate atoms
Consolidated European Photonics Research Initiative
As light acts virtually contact-free; it can
Photonics for the 21st Century

Photonics European
Projections
Estimation for
2003:

Prediction for
2010:

500,000 jobs in the EU

60 billon worth of
products
15,000 patents

1.5 million jobs in the EU

250 billion worth of
products
45,000 patents

Focus on:
Cell Evaluation
Information storage
Bandwidth increases
Energy saving
applications
Consolidated
European Photonics
applications
in Research Initiative
Optical
Photonics for the 21st Century
health

Early Entry is Required

Being late means losing leading edge capabilities
Catching up requires investing in the old
technology and the new technology
simultaneously
Requires very deep governmental funding
Requires trained workforce.

Being leading edge means always being in the

race to improve both people and equipment
Significant benefits come to the early successful
entries
High value jobs are part of the reward of being
successful in developing the emerging
technology

Development
Interdependency
The U.S. must possess every element of the nano
manufacturing infrastructure
Semiconductor Failure Example:
248nm Exposure Tool
Ready for production in 1991
Only reached production in 1995

Why was there a 4 year delay?

Resists were not production worthy
Resulting in insufficient experience
Resulting in lack of willingness to take risks

To be successful with technology introduction,

the complete infrastructure must be ready at the
beginning
2 June 2003 Presentation : Business and Economics of
Nano

Research Challenges
Nano technology brings on new challenges
Existing tools for investigations at the
atomic level are expensive to acquire and
maintain
New research tools need to be developed to
explore the nano realm
Specialized facilities are required to
maintain the cleanliness need for nano
technology
A new infrastructure might be required for
the equipment yet-to-be-developed

Education Challenges
Nano technology requires education and training
in multiple fields for successful collaboration
Combinations of chemistry, physics,
engineering, biology, computer science, and
many related disciplines are needed to fully
understand the development of nano
technology
The development of the nano technology
industry will require well educated technicians
Scientific education needs to begin early in the
learning process

Summary
There are many opportunities to
incorporate nano technologies into
innovative products
Fundamental research is required to
understand the potential applications of
the properties of nano materials
Future high tech products will incorporate
the advantages of nano-materials
From the national interests, it is important
for researchers to continue to push the
understanding of nano technology

Conclusions
The U.S. has the technical capability and is
evolving nano-technology into a business
environment
Building from S/C1 provides ability to coordinate
industry, university, and infrastructure roles in
developing nano in more than electronics
Tools and facilities for nano are expensive
Nano-technology requires being on the leading
edge of developments including equipment
Infrastructure development must be sustained
Continual evaluation of weak links is required

S/C = semiconductor

Texas State University-San

Marcos is a premier, studentcentered public university offering
baccalaureate, masters and
doctoral degrees to students on a
traditional residential campus.
Founded: 1899 as SWT State
Normal School
President: Dr. Denise M. Trauth
Campus area: 427 acres in main
campus (including 4,322 acres of
farm, ranch & recreational areas)

ABOUT
TEXAS STATE
110 Undergraduate
majors
(7 academic colleges)
84 Masters programs
6 PhD programs
EE Program (Fall 07)
MSE Ph.D. Program (09)

Total student
enrollment (27,503)
Undergraduate
(23,022)
Hispanic/ Latino
(5,025) (21%)
1110 Faculty
93% teach on the
undergraduate level.
http://www.txstate.edu

Fall 2007

NANOMATERIALS
APPLICATION CENTER
MISSION: The NANOMATERIALS
APPLICATION CENTER at Texas State
University-San Marcos coordinates,
facilitates, disseminates information, and
expedites nanoscience and
nanoengineering developments to expedite
the commercialization of innovation.
GOAL: Accelerate the development of high
technology and the dissemination of these
developments in order to expedite
commercialization.

NANO-SAFETY
The NANOMATERIALS APPLICATION
CENTER is addressing four key areas for
developing a NANO-SAFETY collaborative
effort that identifies the nanomaterial
properties, the effect on humans and the
environment, the means of handling the
materials correctly, and the procedures
that must be in place to minimize risk in
applications. Discussions have been
initiated with numerous organizations in
order to address this critical issue.

Contact
Information
Walt Trybula, Ph.D.
IEEE Fellow & SPIE Fellow
w.trybula@ieee.org
Director
Nanomaterials Application Center
Texas State University-San Marcos
w.trybula@txstate.edu
+1.512.245.6062
Director
The Trybula Foundation, Inc.
w.trybula@tryb.org
+1.512.695.4026