RESEARCH
THRUST 1: Emerging Nanomaterials & Nanodevices
Emerging Nanomaterials & Nanodevices: As physical and equivalent scaling of silicon CMOS becomes increasingly challenging, emerging nanotechnologies (such as one-dimensional, 1D, and two-dimensional, 2D, nanomaterials) are being explored. For instance, the NOVELS research group has extensive experience designing and fabricating large -scale circuits using carbon nanotube (CNT) field-effect transistors (CNFETs) – a promising candidate for building energy-efficient digital systems at highly-scaled technology nodes. This work is equally rooted in design and experiment: we analyze how new nanomaterials and devices impact Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) digital circuits comprising millions or billions of transistors, and use these results to motivate addressing the most impactful device-level research in the lab.
THRUST 2: Complex Nanosystems
Complex Nanosystems: While investigating new devices or new architectures separately can be beneficial, combining the “right” devices, with the “right” architectures, in the “right” way, results in performance (e.g., speed, energy efficiency) gains which far exceed the sum of their individual benefits, while simultaneously providing a rich set of enhanced functionality for applications that otherwise may not be feasible using traditional technologies. Our projects on nanosystems range from realizing monolithic 3D ICs with interleaving layers of logic, memory, and sensing to nano-implantable implants for biologically-embedded health monitoring. Through these experimental demonstrations, we aim to transform nanosystems from concept to reality.
THRUST 3: New Applications
New Applications: In addition to high-performance and energy-efficient computing, emerging nanotechnologies can be leveraged for a wide range of benefits. We are collaborating with many research groups at and beyond MIT to transition emerging nanotechnologies from their current status of “scientifically-interesting” materials into the foundation for useful application today. Projects range from: 3D chips with layers of sensing, memory, and logic densely integrated for on-chip ultra-high bandwidth sensing and processing, to computation finely-immersed in biological systems for disease monitoring and nano-implants.
