A survey of carbon nanotube interconnects for energy efficient integrated circuits

This article is a review of the state-of-art carbon nanotube interconnects for Silicon application with respect to the recent literature. Amongst all the research on carbon nanotube interconnects, those discussed here cover 1) challenges with current copper interconnects, 2) process & growth of carbon nanotube interconnects compatible with back-end-of-line integration, and 3) modeling and simulation for circuit-level benchmarking and performance prediction. The focus is on the evolution of carbon nanotube interconnects from the process, theoretical modeling, and experimental characterization to on-chip interconnect applications. We provide an overview of the current advancements on carbon nanotube interconnects and also regarding the prospects for designing energy efficient integrated circuits. Each selected category is presented in an accessible manner aiming to serve as a survey and informative cornerstone on carbon nanotube interconnects relevant to students and scientists belonging to a range of fields from physics, processing to circuit design

A novel 384-multiwell microelectrode array for the impedimetric monitoring of Tau protein induced neurodegenerative processes

Over the last decades, countless bioelectronic monitoring systems were developed for the analysis of cells as well as complex tissues. Most studies addressed the sensitivity and specificity of the bioelectronic detection method in comparison to classical molecular biological assays. In contrast, the up scaling as a prerequisite for the practical application of these novel bioelectronic monitoring systems is mostly only discussed theoretically. In this context, we developed a novel 384-multiwell microelectrode array (MMEA) based measurement system for the sensitive label-free real-time monitoring of neurodegenerative processes by impedance spectroscopy. With respect to the needs of productive screening systems for robust and reproducible measurements on high numbers of plates, we focused on reducing the critical contacting of more than 400 electrodes for a 384-MMEA. Therefore, we introduced an on top array of immersive counter electrodes that are individually addressed by a multiplexer and connected all measurement electrodes on the 384-MMEA to a single contact point. More strikingly, our novel approach provided a comparable signal stability and sensitivity similar to an array with integrated counter electrodes. Next, we optimized a SH-SY5Y cell based tauopathy model by introducing a novel 5-fold Tau mutation eliminating the need of artificial tauopathy induction. In combination with our novel 384-MMEA based measurement system, the concentration and time dependent neuroregenerative effect of the kinase inhibitor SRN-003-556 could be quantitatively monitored. Thus, our novel screening system could be a useful tool to identify and develop potential novel therapeutics in the field of Tau-related neurodegenerative diseases

Progress on Pt-Salt Doped Carbon Nanotubes for Local Interconnects

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Challenges and Progress on Carbon Nanotube Integration for BEOL Interconnects

International audienceHere, we review and present current challenges and progress on Carbon Nanotube Integration for BEOL Interconnects as well as our recent results. Amongst all the research on carbon nanotube interconnects, those discussed here cover 1) improvement of the variability of SWCNTs for local interconnects 2) process & growth of carbon nanotube interconnects compatible with BEOL integration and formation of CNT-copper-composites, 3) modeling and simulation from atomistic to circuit-level benchmarking and performance prediction, and 4) characterization and electrical measurements. The aim is to evaluate the use of CNT-based materials for future metallization, both in regards to manufacturability, i.e. CMOS compatibility and wafer-scale integration as well as realistic performance expectations, i.e. variability and defectivity

Understanding Electromigration in Cu-CNT Composite Interconnects: A Multiscale Electrothermal Simulation Study

International audienceIn this paper, we report a hierarchical simulation study on the electromigration problem in Cu-CNT composite interconnects. Our work is based on the investigation of the activation energy and self-heating temperature using a multiscale electro-thermal simulation framework. We first investigate the electrical and thermal properties of Cu-CNT composites including contact resistances using the Density Functional Theory and Reactive Force Field approaches, respectively. The corresponding results are employed in macroscopic electro-thermal simulations taking into account the self-heating phenomenon. Our simulations show that although Cu atoms have similar activation energies in both bulk Cu and Cu-CNT composites, Cu-CNT composite interconnects are more resistant to electromigration thanks to the large Lorenz number of the CNTs. Moreover, we found that a large and homogenous conductivity along the transport direction in interconnects is one of the most important design rules to minimize the electromigration