SRC and NIST fund $5 Million to develop post-CMOS electronics

Date: 08/05/2013
Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) together funding $5 million this year for three multi-university research centers to do research on non-conventional, low-energy technologies that outperform current technologies on critical applications in 10 years and beyond.

The second phase of NRI also features joint projects with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the multi-university research network involves 34 universities in 17 states. The three research centers are:
the Institute for Nanoelectronics Discovery and Exploration (INDEX) at SUNY’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE);
the Center for Nanoferroic Devices (CNFD) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and
the South West Academy of Nanoelectronics (SWAN) 2.0 at the University of Texas at Austin.

“In 2012, the first phase of NRI culminated with a comprehensive assessment of the various NRI device concepts through performance benchmarking,” said Tom Theis, the new SRC program executive director. “NRI 2.0 will focus on key research opportunities identified in the benchmarking study and will explore the ultimate scalability of emerging digital device concepts and their functionality beyond digital logic. For example, researchers will explore magnetoelectric devices that promise improved energy efficiency and the ability to combine memory and logic.”

NIST said it will provide $2.6 million to the effort each year for up to five years, matched by $2.4 million each year from NRI. NRI is made up of participants from the semiconductor industry including GLOBALFOUNDRIES, IBM, Intel, Micron Technology and Texas Instruments.

“NIST collaborations with the NRI are one of the fastest ways to move pre-competitive technology forward,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and Director of NIST Patrick Gallagher. “We’re excited to see what innovative nanoelectronic devices and concepts the next phase of this partnership with SRC will produce.”

Additional universities involved in the NRI network include:
INDEX at SUNY’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE): Purdue, Virginia, Cornell, Georgia Institute of Technology and Columbia.
CNFD at University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Wisconsin-Madison, Oakland, SUNY Buffalo, UC Irvine, Delaware.
SWAN 2.0 at University of Texas at Austin: UT Dallas, North Carolina State, Texas A&M, UC San Diego, Stanford and Harvard.