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Government Engineering College Thrissur 2004 Seminar Paper on AC PERFORMANCE OF NANOELECTRONICS Presented by SYAM KRISHNAN . V Roll N0: 01-656 S 7 ECE Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

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Page 1: Shyam Ac Performance of Nano Electronics

Government Engineering College Thrissur

2004

Seminar Paper on

AC PERFORMANCE OF NANOELECTRONICS

Presented by

SYAM KRISHNAN . V Roll N0: 01-656 S7 ECE

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I express my sincere thanks to Prof. K.P.Indira Devi, Head of the Electronics and

Communication Engineering Department at this juncture for her suggestions in the selection

of this topic and the presentation of this seminar.

I also take this opportunity to express my wholehearted gratitude towards Asst.Prof.

MUNEERA C R and Mr. C.D. Anilkumar for their valuable advice and guidance in

completion of this seminar in its pristine form.

I am also thankful to all my friends and classmates who helped me to make this

seminar a grand success.

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ABSTRACT

The phenomenological predictions for the cutoff frequency of carbon nanotube transistors and the

predictions of the effects of parasitic capacitances on AC nanotube transistor performance are

presented. The influence of quantum capacitance, kinetic inductance, and ballistic transport on the

high-frequency properties of nanotube transistors is analyzed. The challenges of impedance

matching for ac nano-electronics in general, and how integrated nanosystems can solve this

challenge, are presented.

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CONTENTS 1.Introduction 1 2.Ballistic Transport- An outline 2 3.Carbon Nanotubes -An overview 9 4.Nanotube Interconnects: quantum Impedances 12 5.Active devices: Nanotube transistors 14 6.Relevant frequency scale 15 7.Small signal equivalent circuit 16 8.Cutoff Frequency 19 9.Noise performance 20 10.Challenges: Impedance matching 21 11.Beyond Microelectronics 22 12.Conclusion 24 13.References 25

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Introduction Nano electronic devices fall into two classes: tunnel devices and ballistic transport devices. In

Tunnel devices single electron effects occur if the tunnel resistance is larger than h/e″ = 25 KΩ. In

Ballistic devices with cross sectional dimensions in the range of quantum mechanical wavelength of

electrons, the resistance is of order h/e″ = 25 KΩ. This high resistance may seem to restrict the

operational speed of nano electronics in general. However the capacitance values and drain source

spacing are typically small which gives rise to very small RC times and transit times of order of ps

or less. Thus the speed may be very large, up to THz range.

The goal of this seminar is to present the models an performance predictions about the

effects that set the speed limit in carbon nanotube transistors, which form the ideal test bed for

understanding the high frequency properties of Nano electronics because they may behave as ideal

ballistic 1d transistors.

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BALLISTIC TRANSPORT- AN OUTLINE When carriers travel through a semiconductor material, they are likely to be scattered by any number

of possible sources, including acoustic and optical phonons, ionized impurities, defects, interfaces,

and other carriers. If, however, the distance traveled by the carrier is smaller than the mean free path,

it is likely not to encounter any scattering events; it can, as a result, move ballistically through the

channel. To the first order, the existence of ballistic transport in a MOSFET depends on the value of

the characteristic scattering length (i.e. mean free path) in relation to channel length of the transistor.

This scattering length, l , can be estimated from the measured carrier mobility

where t is the average scattering time, m* is the carrier effective mass, and vth is the thermal

velocity. Because scattering mechanisms determine the extent of ballistic transport, it is important to

understand how these depend upon operating conditions such as normal electric field and ambient

temperature.

DEPENDENCE ON NORMAL ELECTRIC FIELD In state-of-the-art MOSFET inversion layers, carrier scattering is dominated by phonons, impurities

(Coulomb interaction), and surface roughness scattering at the Si-SiO2 interface. As shown in Figure

2, the relative importance of each scattering mechanism is dependent on the effective electric field

component normal to the conduction channel. At low fields, impurity scattering dominates due to

strong Coulombic interactions between the carriers and the impurity centers. As the electric field is

increased, acoustic phonons begin to dominate the scattering process. At very high fields, carriers

are pulled closer to the Si-SiO2 gate oxide interface; thus, surface roughness scattering degrades

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carrier mobility. A universal mobility model has been developed to relate field strength with the

effective carrier mobility due to phonon and surface roughness scattering:

where Vgs is the applied gate voltage, VT is the transistor threshold voltage, Tox is the gate oxide

thickness, and m0 and Ecrit are empirically-derived constants. As predicted by the International

Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors ,device technologies at near ballistic (~30nm) channel

lengths will have power supplies of <0.8V, VT<0.2V, Tox,eq~10Å. This yields an effective electric

field of approximately ~1MV/cm. The actual value may be lower, depending on the actual device

structure and operating conditions. With doping concentrations in the channel region of the

MOSFET expected to be on the order of 1018, from ,we find that the electron mobility is ~230

cm2/Vsec and the hole mobility is ~65 cm2/Vsec at room temperature. This yields scattering lengths

of approximately 5.5nm and 2.4nm.

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DEPENDENCE ON TEMPERATURE When the temperature is changed, the relative importance of each of the aforementioned scattering

mechanisms is altered. Phonon scattering becomes less important at very low temperatures. Impurity

scattering, on the other hand, becomes more significant because carriers are moving slower (thermal

velocity is decreased) and thus have more time to interact with impurity centers. Surface roughness

scattering remains the same because it does not depend on temperature. At liquid nitrogen

temperatures (77K) and an effective electric field of 1MV/cm, the electron and hole mobilities are

~700 cm2/Vsec and ~100 cm2/Vsec, respectively. Using the above equations, the scattering lengths

are approximately 17nm and 3.6nm.These scattering lengths can be assumed to be worst-case

scenarios, as large operating voltages (1V) and aggressively scaled gate oxides (10Å) are assumed.

Thus, actual scattering lengths will likely be larger than the calculated values. Further device design

considerations in maximizing this scattering length will be discussed in the last section of this paper.

Still, the values calculated above are certainly in the range of transistor gate lengths currently being

studied in advanced MOSFET research (<50nm). Ballistic carrier transport should thus become

increasingly important as transistor channel lengths are further reduced in size. In addition, it should

be noted that the mean free path of holes is generally smaller than that of electrons. Thus, it should

be expected that ballistic transport in PMOS transistors is more difficult to achieve, since current

conduction occurs through hole transport. Calculation of the mean scattering length, however, can

only be regarded as a first-order estimation of ballistic transport. To accurately determine the extent

of ballistic transport evident in a particular transistor structure, Monte Carlo simulation methods

must be employed .Only by modeling the random trajectory of each carrier traveling through the

channel can we truly assess the extent of ballistic transport in a MOSFET. Comparison of scattering

length with the device channel length can nevertheless provide a useful way of ascertaining whether

ballistic transport effects should be considered.

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EFFECTS OF BALLISTIC TRANSPORT IN MOSFET’S If carrier transport in a device can be assumed to be completely ballistic, analysis of MOSFET

currentvoltage characteristics reduces to carrier transmission over the channel potential barrier. As

shown in figure 3, the potential energy distribution in the channel of the transistor has a maximum,

Emax, near the source end of the device. Carriers with a higher energy than Emax can be transmitted

over the barrier through the process of thermionic emission. Carriers with lower energies can travel

from source to drain only by tunneling quantum mechanically through the channel potential barrier.

Such transport phenomena is markedly different from that generally associated with mobility-limited

diffusive transport. As a result, the current-voltage characteristics of MOSFET’s operating in the

ballistic regime will be different.

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ACHIEVING BALLISTIC TRANSPORT IN DEEPLY-SCALED MOSFET’S As evidenced by preceding sections, ballistic transport allows for larger transistor saturation currents

because carriers are experience no scattering. Designing future transistors to maximize the likelihood

of ballistic transport is thus highly desirable. As shown ,simply by shrinking current transistor

designs, a significant step can be taken towards this goal. However, modifications to the operating

conditions or to the device structure itself may help to further induce ballistic transport. Recently,

much interest has been placed on thin body double-gate MOSFET designs (Figure 4) due to its

superior immunity to detrimental short-channel effects. This structure, in particular, lends itself to

the promotion of ballistic carrier transport due to its low-doped channel and dual-gate nature. The

following briefly describes some techniques that may be used in the design of future transistor

technologies to minimize carrier scattering, thus promoting ballistic transport. The primary goal is to

reduce the likelihood of scattering events in the MOSFET inversion layer and increase the mean free

path. Minimizing surface roughness scattering Because of the large electric fields experienced by

carriers in MOSFET inversion layers, scattering is due predominately to interface roughness. To

minimize the impact of this scattering mechanism, the problem can be attacked from two

perspectives: improving the Si-SiO2 interface quality, and decreasing the normal electric field. The

former will indeed reduce surface roughness scattering, but there is little room for improvement as

current semiconductor process technologies are quite mature and yield very clean and smooth

interfaces. Even so, it may be helpful to take precautions during processing to ensure a good

interface; this may include ion implantation through a screen oxide, sacrificial oxidation steps to

clean up surfaces after reactive ion etching, or dry as opposed to wet oxidation techniques.

Decreasing the normal electric field is a more viable option. As mentioned earlier, the normal

electric field can be expressed as:

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To decrease the normal electric field, either the power supply voltage (which becomes the applied

Vgs) must be scaled down or the oxide thickness must be increased. Lowering of the power supply is

already a widespread trend, mainly due to power dissipation and device reliability concerns.

However, this results in a smaller inversion charge density and thus a smaller current. As such, a

tradeoff in current drive can be observed between minimization of carrier scattering and the decrease

in inversion charge. There is likely an optimum point for the choice of supply voltage. Normally,

gate oxide thickness is decreased in advanced transistor technologies to combat short channel effects

and to improve the ability to “turn off” the transistor. However, a thicker gate oxide may allow for

ballistic transport, which may decrease the effective field, increase current, and result in an overall

advantage. The double-gate MOSFET structure (Figure 4) is particularly attractive for this option

because two gate electrodes exist to help to control channel conductivity, the gate oxide thickness

need not be as thin to achieve small gate lengths. Additionally, in the double-gate MOSFET

structure, because there are two gate electrodes on opposite sides of the conduction channel, it is

reasonable to assume that the two will have a canceling effect on the normal electric field component

in the middle of the silicon body . This should, in turn, reduce surface roughness scattering in the

inversion layer. If indeed the normal electric field component is reduced in double-gate MOSFET’s,

it may be much easier to achieve ballistic-mode transport in these devices.

MINIMIZING PHONON SCATTERING

Phonons resulting from vibrations in the silicon lattice are principally controlled by the ambient

temperature. Decreasing the operating temperature of a transistor reduces phonon scattering and

increases the carrier transmission coefficient and thus the likelihood of ballistic transport.

Transmission coefficients as high as 92% have been obtained at liquid nitrogen temperatures (77K).

However, low temperature operation, while interesting from an academic standpoint, is not attractive

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for practical applications as the cooling system required to achieve such temperatures is complex and

expensive.

MINIMIZING IMPURITY SCATTERING

In order to alleviate the impact of impurity scattering, the doping concentration in the channel region

needs to be low. In a standard transistor design, because of concerns with the short-channel effect

and threshold voltage control, doping concentrations in the channel need to be very high (~1018 cm-

3). In order to decouple channel doping from these issues, super-steep retrograde doping profiles or

lightlydoped epitaxial channel layers need to be employed. The double-gate MOSFET structure

described in Figure 4, however, already considers the use of a low-doped channel region. Short-

channel effects are controlled using the dual-gate structure, while threshold voltage is dictated by the

workfunction of gate material. Thus, impurity scattering can be minimized with this device structure.

As previously mentioned, in transistors operating near the ballistic regime, carrier scattering will

likely dominated by surface roughness mechanisms. Thus, addressing effective normal electric field

as well as Si-SiO2 interface quality will be of utmost concern in achieving ballistic transport.

Furthermore, additional device design issues will have to be resolved before the full benefits of

ballistic transport are realized. Most importantly, parasitic resistances in the source and drain

terminals of the device due either to shallow source/drain junctions or the thin body region of the

double-gate device will be significant. These may result in resistive voltage drops that are

detrimental to device performance, thus masking any benefits attained from ballistic carrier

transport.

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CARBON NANOTUBES – AN OVERVIEW The remarkable properties of SWNT(single wire nanotube) stems from the unusual electronic

structure of the two dimensional material graphene from which they are constructed. Graphene is a

single atomic layer of graphite which consists of a 2D honey comb structure of sp² bonded carbon

atoms.

Fig 1.the honey comb structure of grapheme

It is sometimes called zero band semiconductors since it is semiconducting in some directions and

metallic in the other directions. In a SWNT,the momentum of the electrons moving around the

circumference of the tube is quantized, reducing the available states to slice through the 2-D band

structure. This shown in fig 2.

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fig 2 The CNTFET technology is at an early stage of development. The device physics is Relatively

unexplored: it is not clear that how the device operates or whether devices grown with different

structures and techniques operate in the same way. Most of the times, CNTFETs are categorized in

three types as shown in the fig. 3.

DEPLETION MODE P-CNTFET In this type, the nanotube is uniformly doped and the contacts at the two endsare ohmic. In

such a device, the on-current would be limited by the ‘source exhaustion’ Id (on) = qplvt, where pl is

the hole density per unit length.

MOSFET LIKE CNTFET In this type of nanotube transistors, the conductance of channel is controlled by the gate as in a

MOSFET.This is supported by the fact that some long channel CNTFETs Obeys the MOSFET

square law theory and no ambipolar behavior is observed in these Devices. Some recent CNTFETs

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that behaves as MOSFET like devices, have demonstrated performance that is many orders of

magnitude better than current stateof-the-art MOSFETs .

SCHOTTY BARRIER CNTFETS Another possibility is that the CNTFET operates as “Schottky barrier transistors” in which

transistor action takes place primarily by varying the contact resistance rather than the channel

conductance. This is supported by the observations of ambipolar behavior in some CNTFETs. The

observation of ambipolar operation in some CNTFETs and the transition of the tube from n-type to

p-type indicate that some CNTFETs operate as unconventional Schottky barrier transistors. In such a

device, the gate modulates the transmission through a Schottky barrier and the transistor action takes

place primarily by varying the contact resistance rather than the channel conductance. In addition,

the electrode geometry is crucial for good device performance.

AMBIPOLAR BEHAVIOR The CNTFETs measured in air are unipolar with p type characteristics, i.e. the tube conducts

holes upon applying negative gate voltages and they show no evidence of electron conduction even

at very large gate voltages. The origin of this p-type character of semiconducting SWNT is still not

clearly understood. Several proposals have been made to explain this effect including contact

doping, doping introduced by cleaning or handling the nanotube in oxidizing acids, or doping by the

adsorption of atmospheric oxygen.In principle any of the above mechanism can influence the

transistor characteristics. The device is said to be ambipolar when it behaves like n-type or p-type

depending on the applied gate voltage i.e. it shows large conduction for both positive and negative

gate voltages.

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NANOTUBE INTERCONNECTS: QUANTUM IMPEDANCES The first step towards understanding the high frequency electronic properties of carbon

nanotubes is to understand the passive ac impedance of a 1d quantum system. In the presence of a

ground plane below the nanotube or top gate above the nanotube, there is electrostatic capacitance

between the nano tube and the metal. Due to quantum properties of 1d systems there are two

additional components to the ac impedance: the quantum capacitance and the kinetic inductance.

Thus the equivalent circuit of a nanotube consists of 3 distributed circuit elements as shown in fig 1

and fig 2.

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ELECTROSTATIC CAPACITANCE The electrostatic capacitance between a wire and a ground plane as shown in fig1 is given

by where the approximation holds good to within 1% for h > 2d. For a typical value if h/d, this

wire length can be approximated numerically as

QUANTUM CAPACITANCE Because of the finite quantum energy level spacing of electrons in 1d, it costs

energy to add an electron to the system. By equating this energy cost ∆E with an effective Quantum

capacitance, one arrives at the following expression for capacitance per unit length:

Where h is the Planck’s constant and νF is the fermi velocity. The fermi velocity for graphene

and also carbon nano tubes is usually taken as νF = 8x 10ˆ5 m/s, so that numerically,

KINETIC INDUCTANCE Due to inertia of electrons, the instantaneous velocity lags the instantaneous electric field

in time. This means the current lags the phase, which can be described as a kinetic inductance. For

1d systems we have the following expression for the kinetic energy per unit length:

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Numerically, BAND STRUCTURE, SPIN DEGENERACY A carbon nanotube, because of its band structure has two propagating Channels. In

addition the electrons can be spin up or spin down. Hence there are four channels. Ta king this to

account, we show that the circuit model in fig 2 is valid if LK -> LK/4 and CQ -> 4CQ.

ACTIVE DEVICES: NANOTUBE TRANSISTORS A typical nanotube transistor geometry is shown below in fig3.

The fundamental physical mechanism responsible for transistor action in nanotube Transistor

action in nano tube transistors is still not completely understood. One action of the gate may be to

modulate the (Schottky barrier) contact resistance Complicating the issue is the question whether the

transport is diffusive or ballistic Experiments indicate that the mean free path in semi conducting

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nanotubes at room Temperature is at least 1µm, so that nano tubes shorter than 1µm may behave as

ballistic transistors.

RELEVANT FREQUENCY SCALES

The frequency scales for most important processes : the RC time and the transconductance are

estimated.

RC TIME

The most important effect for high frequency performance is the RC time. For Typical

Nanotube geometry of 0.1µm length ,C is of order 4 aF. R can be as small as 6.25kΩ.Therefore

the RC frequency is given by

This shows that the speed limit due to RC times intrinsic to a nanotube transistor very large

indeed. TRANSCONDUCTANCE

The transconductance gm over the gate source capacitance Cgs sets another important Frequency.

Using experimentally measured value of 10µS, this gives

The above estimates indicate that a carbon nano tube transistor could be very fast,inspite its

high impedance. For more realistic estimates of device performance a small signal equivalent

circuit is considered

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SMALL SIGNAL EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT In fig 4, we show the predicted small signal circuit model for a nano tube transistor

In the following sections we discuss each of the important components GATE SOURCE CAPACITANCE The gate source capacitance is given by

The quantum capacitance is multiplied by 4 because of the band structure

degeneracy

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TRANSCONDUCTANCE

The transconductance is the most critical parameter the underlying mechanism is the least

understood. Transconductances upto 20µS have been measured using aqueous gate geometry.

A transconductance of 60 µS was recently predicted by simulation.

DRAIN RESISTANCE

In Fig. 4, gd represents the output impedance of the device, if it does not appear as an ideal

current source. The gd values from various source for nanotube transistor are 0.03 µS Tans S,

Verschueren A, Dekker C

1 µS Martel R, Schmidt T, Shea HR

0.6 µS Burke P J

SERIES RESISTANCE

In most conventional transistors the series resistance consists of the metallization layer and the

ohmic contact resistance. We argue that, in nanotube transistors, the intrinsic contact resistance

will be of order the resistance quantum because of the 1d Nature of the system. At dc, the lowest

value of resistance possible for a carbon nanotube is h/4e″. This is because there are four channels

for conductance in the Landauer–Buttiker formalism, each contributing h/e″ to the conductance.

To date very little experimental work has been done to measure the ac impedance of ballistic

systems. From a theoretical point of view, Buttiker and Christen have carefully analyzed the

case of a capacitive contact to a ballistic conductor (in his case a 2DEG without scattering) in

contact with one dc electrical lead through a quantum point contact. They found that the ac

impedance from gate to lead includes a real part,equal to half the resistance quantum h/2e″. Based

on this work we argue that a reasonable value for the contact resistance in our small signal model

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would be h/2e″ per channel. Since there are channels in parallel this a contact resistance of h/8e″.

There will be an additional imaginary contribution to the contact resistance due to kinetic

inductance on the order of a few nH.

PARASITIC CAPACITANCE

The parasitic capacitance is due to fringing electric fields between the electrodes for the source,

drain and gate. While these parasitic capacitance are generally small, they may comparable to

the intrinsic device capacitances and hence must be considered.In order to estimate the order of

magnitude of the parasitic capacitance, we can use known calculations for the capacitance

between two thin metal films, spaced by a distance w, as drawn in Fig. 5. For this geometry,

if w is 1µm, the capacitance is ~ 10^-16 F/lm of electrode length . For a length of 1µm, this

gives rise to ~10^-16 F. Thus, typical parasitic capacitances are of the same order of

magnitude as typical intrinsic capacitances.

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CUTOFF FREQUENCY

The estimates of the cutoff frequency fT, defined as the frequency at which the current gain falls to

unity are provided in this section . Based on fig 4, fT is given by

here p represent parasitic, Using the experimentally measured transconductance of 10 µs, a

parasitic capacitance value of 10^-16 F, and a Cgs of 4 x 10^-17 F (appropriate for a 1 lm long

tube), we predict a cutoff frequency of 8 GHz. For this value, the parasitic capacitance is the

most important contribution. Thus, minimizing the parasitic capacitance is of prime importance in

increasing fT for nanotube transistors.

PARASITIC CAPACITANCE

While the above calculations show that the parasitic capacitance is important, in principle it

should be possible to significantly reduce the parasitic capacitance by detailed electrode

geometry design. Another (better) way to reduce the parasitic capacitance would be to use the

nanotube itself as an interconnect electrode from one nanotube transistor to another. Then, the

parasitic capacitance would be dramatically smaller than that with lithographically fabricated

electrodes.

SCALING WITH LENGTH

If we assume that the parasitic capacitance can be reduced to negligible Values , the equation simplifies to

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Cgs scales linearly with gate length, and was calculated above. In the ballistic limit, gm should be independent of gate length. Using the largest measured transconductance to date of 20 µs, this gives rise to the following prediction for fT

In fig 6, we plot the predictions for fT vs gatelength for a nano tube transistor and Compare it to other technologies.

NOISE PERFORMANCE

One promising potential application is in low-noise analog microwave amplification circuits.

Recent work on noise in mesoscopic systems has been extensive and has shown suppressed noise

due to the Pauli exclusion principle . Since electrons can travel without scattering from source to

drain, and the Pauli exclusion principle suppresses the current noise, it may be possible to

engineer extremely low noise microwave amplifiers using carbon nanotubes, possibly even

approaching the quantum limit of sensitivity.

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CHALLENGES: IMPEDANCE MATCHING

Nano-devices generally have high resistance values, of order the resistance quantum RQ =

h/e″. At high frequencies, for driving circuits more the one electromagnetic wavelength away

from the device, the load impedance is typically of order of the characteristic impedance of

free space, Zc = ( ∝є )½ .The ratio of ZC /RQ = (1/137) has a special significance in physics

and is called the fine structure constant; it is set by only three fundamental constants of nature:

e, h, and c. For electrical engineering, this means that nanodevices will always need impedance

matching circuits when driving loads more than a few cm away at RF and microwave

frequencies. Integration can provide a solution to this problem. For nano-electronic devices

closely spaced, down to the nano-scale, the capacitive loading from one device to the next can

be minimized. For full effect, the interconnects should be nano-scale as well; lithographically

fabricated interconnects may be too large to realize the full potential of nano-electronics. Our

work on the high frequency electrical properties of active and passive nano-devices provides a

very small step towards achieving this ultimate goal of integrated nanosystems.

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BEYOND MICROELECTRONICS Nanoelectronics is not simply a smaller version of microelectronics; things change at the nanoscale.

At the device level, silicon transistors may give way to new materials such as organi molecules or

inorganic nanowires. At the interconnect level, microelectronics uses long, fat wires, but

nanoelectronics seeks to use short nanowires. Finally, fundamentally new architectures will be

needed to make use of simple, locally connected structures that are imperfect and are comprised of

devices whose performance varies widely. I have argued in this paper that 21st century silicon

technology is rapidly evolving into a true nanotechnology. Critical dimensions are already below

100 nm. The materials used in these silicon devices have properties that differ from the bulk.

Nanoscale silicon transistors have higher leakage, lower-drive current, and exhibit more variability

from device to device. New circuits and architectures will need to be developed to accommodate

such devices. It matters little whether the material is silicon or something else, the same issues face

any nanoelectronics technology. It’s likely that many of the advances and breakthroughs at the

circuits and systems levels that will be needed to make nanoelectronics successful will come from

the silicon design community. Given that we have a nanoelectronics technology and that another 20

years of exponential progress in silicon technology can be expected (leading to terascale integration,

why explore radically new technologies? One reason, of course, is that 20 years is not a long time to

develop fundamentally new technologies, so that we need to start now, but there are other reasons.

The most compelling practical reason is that the fabrication and assemblyprocesses and the

materials, device, circuit, and system understanding that we develop by examining radically new

technologies are almost certain to be useful in silicon nanotechnology. Developing an understanding

of how to engineer devices at the nanoscale is a good reason to support nanoscience research.

Another reason is that devices to complement silicon technology might be discovered. For example,

carbon nanotube FETs could be exquisite single molecule detectors, and single electron devices

could be integrated with MOSFETs for high density memory applications. Another possibility is

molecular structures that improve the performance of a CMOS platform. For example, ballistic

CNTs could be high performance interconnects and efficient at heat removal. Nanowire

thermoelectric cooling could lower chip temperature and increase performance. So there are several

good reasons to expect that research on nanoelectronics will prove to be a good investment. The

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successful development of nanoelectronics will require a partnership between science and

engineering. It was the same for semiconductor technology. The scientific community developed the

understanding of semiconductor materials and physics and the engineering community used this base

to learn how to design devices, circuits, and systems. Figure 5 summarizes this partnership. Science

works in the nanoworld with individual atoms, molecules, nanoscale structures and devices, and

assembly processes. Systems engineers work in the macroworld on complex systems with terascale

device densities. In the middle are the device and circuit engineers. They must learn to think and

work at the nanoscale to build devices and circuits that can connect to the macroworld. Their job is

to hide the complexity of the nanoscale device by packaging it in a form that systems engineers can

use (e.g. a compact circuit model). To turn the promise of nanoscience into practical technologies, it

is essential that the systems engineering community be engaged in the effort.

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CONCLUSION

The phenomenological predictions for the ac performance of nanotube Transistors were

presented. It was predicted that carbon nanotube transistors may be faster than conventional

semiconductor technologies. There are many Challenges that must be overcome to meet this goal,

which can be best be achieved by the integration of Nanosystems

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REFERENCES 1. Burke PJ. “An RF circuit model for carbon

1. Burke PJ. “An RF circuit model for carbon nanotubes”. IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology 2003;2(1):55–8.

2. Burke PJ. “ Luttinger liquid theory as a model of the GHz electrical properties of carbon nanotubes”. IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology 2002;1(3):129–44.

3. Nauman Z. Butt, “ Carbon-NanoTube Transistors”

4. McEuen PL, Fuhrer M, Park H. “Single-walled carbon nanotube electronics”. IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology 2002;1(1):78-85; 1. Burke PJ. “An RF circuit model for carbon 1. Burke PJ.

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