Monolayer materials are two-dimensional sheets of a single atomic layer. Recent experimental demonstration of electronic devices based on various monolayer materials, both from academia and industry, show that the promise of these devices to augment or in some cases replace CMOS based logic systems may soon become a reality. This necessitates that appropriate design tools are available so that individual device behavior observed in experimental labs can be assessed from both a fundamental and also a system point of view. The major intellectual contribution of the efforts proposed in this proposal will be to develop a design software for monolayer devices that is based on fundamental physics yet will exploit the increasing computational capability made available through multi-core architecture and super computing clusters for real time and realistically sized device simulation. The general software will be an integrated tool that describes electron and spin transport in monolayer devices in presence of dissipation mechanisms within a full quantum description and also extend those numerical results to compact models appropriate for circuit and system level simulation. This work will thus, on one hand, advance the fundamental understanding of electronic and spin transport in monolayer 2D materials and on the other, make it possible to take those insights to circuit and system level, thereby fostering disruptive innovation in design and optimization with these emerging materials.
As the Si based CMOS technology runs its course, new materials with novel functionalities will be necessary to continue the growth of electronics that contributes significantly to the US economy and also to ensure US leadership in computing technologies. New materials may also lower the energy necessary to run computers. Energy dissipation in computers accounts for a few percent of the national energy needs in the US and this percentage is projected to go up as the use of Cloud technology becomes increasingly commonplace in our daily life. This proposal will train graduate students to think about these issues and also encourage them to look for potential solutions. This work will draw on electrical engineering, material science, computational science and physics, thus providing a true interdisciplinary research experience for the students. A number of UC-Berkeley-run programs will be leveraged to include undergraduate researchers specifically focusing on minority and women. Simulation modules will be made available on line to encourage and foster research in new materials for electronic devices. In addition, industrial collaborations will be leveraged for critical feedback and also to provide a channel for commercialization of any relevant technology developed in this research.
