Research Group

Nanoelectronics/Spintronics Research Group

Progress in technology has brought microelectronics and VLSI design to the nanoscale. Nanoelectronics refer to the use of nanotechnology on electronic components, especially transistors. Although the term nanotechnology is generally defined as utilizing technology less than 100 nm in size, nanoelectronics often refer to FET devices that are so small that inter-atomic interactions and quantum mechanical properties need to be studied extensively. As a result, present transistors do not fall under this category, even though these devices are manufactured with 45 nm, 32 nm, or 22 nm technology. Better to call them as nanoscale MOSFETs or Nano-CMOS devices. Fin-shaped FET (FinFET) is the extension of the classical CMOS technology. FinFETs remove many of the short-channel effects and hence is one of the promising future devices.

A carbon nanotube field-effect transistor (CNFET) refers to a field-effect transistor that utilizes a single carbon nanotube or an array of carbon nanotubes as the channel material instead of bulk silicon in the traditional MOSFET structure. The primary advantage of CNFET is the high mobility of charge carriers and the potential to minimize the subthreshold slope (i.e., minimize the short channel effects). Amongst the non-CMOS devices and architectures, CNFET is regarded as a most promising alternative and falls under the category of nanotechnology. It is also important to investigate the potential of circuits and systems designed in upcoming non-classical (FinFET)and non-CMOS (CNFET) technology for their rapid commercialization once the technology matures.

Spintronics is the study of the intrinsic spin of the electron and its associated magnetic moment, in addition to its fundamental electronic charge. It is an emerging field of basic and applied research in physics and engineering where spin of an electron is used instead of charge of an electron to store, process and transmit digital information.

Currently our research group is analyzing, simulating and modeling emerging devices such as nano-CMOS devices, non-classical CMOS devices (FinFET), non-CMOS devices (CNFET), spintronics devices.

Group Members: