The semiconductor industry will soon be ramping for the 32nm node based on 193nm lithography. As the scaling of silicon-CMOS is approaching its physical limitations with the current patterning methods, alternative approaches for better lithographic resolution are required to keep a $260 billion market stable. Bio-inspired assembly of functional nanostructures and devices based on micro-array and nano-array platforms is one of the main objectives of this work. It has been a longstanding major challenge to efficiently integrate carbon nanotube or nanowire building blocks into functional systems. Only a large-scale integration technology will bring them the scientific and commercial importance of present day silicon technology. High-throughput assembly of nanoelectronics via a bottom-up approach using a top-down platform could become the method for integration on silicon. Bio-inspired assembly is a revolutionary approach to nanofabrication that could have major technological impact on computing, storage and display applications. The students trained on this project will be well positioned to pursue careers in academia and in the semiconductor, display and storage industries. UCR serves a fast-growing region of California that is highly diverse but lagging in educational and economic opportunity; this project is designed to attract more young people to studies and careers in science and technology. Through education and spin-off technology commercialization, this project can completely change the face of engineering education in our region.
