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

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 me...