Nanoelectronics – a molecular view

Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - 3:30pm - 4:30pm
Reiss 502
Avik Gosh
School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia

Modern day electronics is rapidly reaching nanometer dimensions where atomistic, quantum and many-body effects dominate. Fundamental physics is needed to understand how macroscopic concepts like ‘friction’ emerge at these molecular length-scales, and how electrons flow through these systems through a combination of interference pathways and localized many-body states. I will describe how our engagement with the field over the last several years has helped us to (a) understand electronic and material properties of a wide variety of nanosystems ranging from molecular wires to graphene nanoribbons,(b) build accurate quantitative models for transport through such systems that explain and even predict experiments, (c) how we can use this understanding and modeling expertise to design devices ranging from nanowire transistors to spin torque based RAMs and multiferroics based logic, and (d) what fundamentally limits their performance efficiencies in terms of switching speeds, error rates and energy costs.

Host: Paola Barbara