AN OVERVIEW OF NANOELECTRONICS AND NANODEVICES

Nanoelectronics is a nascent area of making electronic devices at the atomic scale to utilize small-scale 'quantum' characteristics of nature. As the name suggests, Nanoelectronics refers to employing nanotechnology in building electronic devices/components; especially transistors. Thus, transistor devices which are so small such that inter-atomic cooperation and quantum mechanical characteristics cannot be ignored are known as Nanoelectronics. This article presents Nanoelectronics and Nanodevices, which are the critical enablers that will not only enable mankind to exploit the ultimate technological capabilities of electronic, mechanical, magnetic, and biological systems but also have the potential to play a part in transforming of the systems thus giving rise to new trends that will revolutionize our life style

AN OVERVIEW OF NANOELECTRONICS AND NANODEVICES

Nanoelectronics is a nascent area of making electronic devices at the atomic scale to utilize small-scale 'quantum' characteristics of nature. As the name suggests, Nanoelectronics refers to employing nanotechnology in building electronic devices/components; especially transistors. Thus, transistor devices which are so small such that inter-atomic cooperation and quantum mechanical characteristics cannot be ignored are known as Nanoelectronics. This article presents Nanoelectronics and Nanodevices, which are the critical enablers that will not only enable mankind to exploit the ultimate technological capabilities of electronic, mechanical, magnetic, and biological systems but also have the potential to play a part in transforming of the systems thus giving rise to new trends that will revolutionize our life style

Nanowire nanocomputer as a finite-state machine

Implementation of complex computer circuits assembled from the bottom up and integrated on the nanometer scale has long been a goal of electronics research. It requires a design and fabrication strategy that can address individual nanometer-scale electronic devices, while enabling large-scale assembly of those devices into highly-organized, integrated computational circuits. We describe how such a strategy has led to the design, construction, and demonstration of a nanoelectronic finite-state machine (nanoFSM). The system was fabricated using a design- oriented approach enabled by a deterministic, bottom-up assembly process that does not require individual nanowire registration. This methodology allowed construction of the nanoFSM through modular design employing a multi-tile architecture. Each tile/module consists of two interconnected crossbar nanowire arrays, with each cross-point consisting of a programmable nanowire transistor node. The nanoFSM integrates 180 programmable nanowire transistor nodes in three tiles or six total crossbar arrays, and incorporates both sequential and arithmetic logic, with extensive inter-tile and intra-tile communication that exhibits rigorous input/output (I/O) matching. Our system realizes the complete 2-bit logic flow and clocked control over state registration that are required for a FSM or computer. The programmable multi-tile circuit was also re-programmed to a functionally-distinct 2-bit full adder with 32-set matched and complete logic output. These steps forward and the ability of our new design-oriented deterministic methodology to yield more extensive multi-tile systems, suggest that proposed general-purpose nanocomputers can be realized in the near future.Chemistry and Chemical BiologyEngineering and Applied Science

Comunicación Molecular: Retos y oportunidades

La comunicación molecular permite el envío de información a través de moléculas u otras partículas a escala de nanómetros a micrómetros. La misma posee limitaciones como: degradación de las partículas en el medio acuoso durante la propagación y retardo de la señal de información recibida debido al movimiento browniano de las partículas. En este artículo se describen los fundamentos más relevantes de un sistema de comunicación molecular incluyendo retos, limitaciones y aplicaciones en la que esta tecnología tendría un impacto relevante. Se presentan los aspectos significativos del canal de comunicaciones, tipos de modulación y herramientas de modelaje de sistemas de comunicación molecular

Micro Nano Manufacturing Methods for Chemical, Gas and Bio Sensors, Water Purification and Energy Technologies

This chapter reports on the various methods of fabricating and manufacturing micro and nano sensor, membrane and energy devices. Firstly, the characteristic often sought after by scientists and engineers for effective and efficient performance of these technologies were thoroughly discussed in details together with the characterization techniques for evaluating them. Several state-of-the-art fabricating techniques for sensor devices, water and medical based-membranes, solar cells and batteries were also discussed

Electrical and mechanical properties of molecular junctions and nano surfaces

The behaviour of two graphene based structures has been theoretically investigated and analysed by using one or more tools. This tool kit consists firstly of SIESTA, a density functional theory software package, secondly Gollum, a non-equilibrium Green’s function code, and finally the tight binding approach. The first project considers the variation of the thermoelectric properties of a graphene-graphene junction functionalised by the amino-silane molecule. The second project studies the mechanical properties of the interface between a silicon-carbide substrate and monolayer graphene. The results of these two projects are summarised in the next paragraphs. The calculation of the thermoelectric properties of a graphene-silane-graphene junction reveals a number of interesting results. The most important result is that silane hinders the cross-plane electron transmission and thermal conductance. Such properties have effective applications through controlling the heat flow in the electronic chip. Furthermore, the silane molecule enhances the figure of merit of the junction which refers to the ability to convert heat. To sum up, silane-functionalized graphene has an improved heat mediation over a non-functionalised junction. The second project analyses the mechanical properties of the silicon-carbide/graphene junction. The study of this junction focuses on the trends in terms of stiffness and work function as the hydrogen concentration intercalating the interface and the number of graphene sheets on top of the silicon-carbide substrate varies. As a result of this study I have found that the effect of increasing the number of penetrating hydrogen atoms is to reduce the stiffness and to enhance the work function. The same situation is found for the stiffness when the number of graphene layers is increased. However the work functions shows two completely opposing behaviours; the first one can be seen in the quasi-free standing graphene layer type 1 and type 2, where the work function has increased, while it has decreased for as-grown interface. An additional property can be deduced is that a certain amount of hydrogen atoms at the interface of approximately 33%, can dramatically change the characteristics of the interface. Another feature is that the junctions exhibit three distinct values of stiffness depending on the hydrogen concentration. The highest value is calculated for the directly attached graphene sheet to the silicon-carbide, while the softest junction is obtained when the concentration of hydrogen atoms passivates more than 50% of the surface silicon atoms. The last value has been shown for the graphene-graphene layer

A comprehensive survey of recent advancements in molecular communication

With much advancement in the field of nanotechnology, bioengineering and synthetic biology over the past decade, microscales and nanoscales devices are becoming a reality. Yet the problem of engineering a reliable communication system between tiny devices is still an open problem. At the same time, despite the prevalence of radio communication, there are still areas where traditional electromagnetic waves find it difficult or expensive to reach. Points of interest in industry, cities, and medical applications often lie in embedded and entrenched areas, accessible only by ventricles at scales too small for conventional radio waves and microwaves, or they are located in such a way that directional high frequency systems are ineffective. Inspired by nature, one solution to these problems is molecular communication (MC), where chemical signals are used to transfer information. Although biologists have studied MC for decades, it has only been researched for roughly 10 year from a communication engineering lens. Significant number of papers have been published to date, but owing to the need for interdisciplinary work, much of the results are preliminary. In this paper, the recent advancements in the field of MC engineering are highlighted. First, the biological, chemical, and physical processes used by an MC system are discussed. This includes different components of the MC transmitter and receiver, as well as the propagation and transport mechanisms. Then, a comprehensive survey of some of the recent works on MC through a communication engineering lens is provided. The paper ends with a technology readiness analysis of MC and future research directions

Physiochemical and Nanomanipulation Studies of Carbon Nanomaterials

Carbon nanomaterials are, without a doubt, one of man\u27s wonder creations. Though these nanomaterials are a very recent trend, extraordinary electromechanical properties and the light weightiness of these nanomaterials attracted the attention of researchers. Although vast research has been done since the start of the US nanotechnology initiative, much effort was in the area of synthesis and characterization of the nanomaterials. However, most of the traditional macroscopic material\u27s theories fail at the nanoscale level, and since the material properties are dependent on size and structure at nanoscale level, the behavior of the carbon nanomaterials in different environments needs attention. High tensile strength and high tensile modulus with low weight make these nanomaterials ideal for light weighted structures. Thus, many space organizations like NASA are conducting research on these exciting nanomaterials. Hence, dimensional changes of carbon nanofibers in the ambient and subzero temperature ranges was quantified and statistically analyzed. Mechanical properties of the carbon nanofibers both at room temperature and in subzero temperature range was measured using AFM based nanoindentation. Inability to control the orientation of the nanomaterials and lack of material integration to substrate were the primary causes for selecting synthesis over deposition even though the former is a cumbersome process. The challenge of nanomaterials integration to substrates can be mitigated by synthesis of nanocomposites, which are hybrid materials with enhanced electromechanical properties and better substrate integration, and the challenge of orientation can be mitigated by nanopatterning i.e., creating the channels using AFM based picolithography. These methods were demonstrated in this thesis