The objective of this program is to develop experimentally-validated physical models for graphene interconnects and to optimize and benchmark them against conventional metallic interconnects. The proposed research will model and experimentally validate: high-frequency signal propagation in mono- and multi-layer graphene nanoribbons; impact of contact shape and size, interconnect length and width, and edge quality on current distribution in multilayer graphene nanoribbons; and crosstalk noise and line-to-line interference amongst graphene nanoribbons.
The intellectual merit is to provide the first unified electromagnetic/quantum mechanical model to analyze high-frequency signal transport in nanomaterials in general and in multilayer graphene interconnects in particular. Existing full-wave electromagnetic field simulators cannot capture the multi-physical nature of signal transport in nanomaterials. Crosstalk in nanoconductors such as graphene is fundamentally different than in conventional metallic wires. This is because the voltage applied to the neighboring interconnects would shift the Fermi energy of the victim line which would affect the victim?s conductance.
The broader impacts are: to create a new paradigm in teaching electron transport by developing a video game in which players navigate electrons or holes in a crystal and get to visualize and experience the key concepts in the physics of semiconductors; to engage undergraduate students taking Physics of Semiconductors to think creatively about the course materials and to create game scenarios aimed at learning various physical concepts; and to adopt the video game for K-12 students, their teachers, and the public, and for outreach activities to attract underrepresented minorities to engineering.
