Beyond Silicon

While the limits of Silicon and CMOS technology are extended, it is clear that new solutions need to be found in the longer term. New materials, such as carbon nanotubes, offer potential advantages in certain niche applications even in the short to medium terms. Researchers in the industry are therefore tasked with probing new nanotechnology solutions, ranging from substituting more traditional materials with new options (e.g. nanotubes) to arriving at completely new designs, such as molecular electronics. A key challenge is to cast the net wide, and then narrow down choices to optimize solutions quickly. Accelrys Materials Studio modeling and simulation suite offers a range of tools to investigate almost any type of material, and a wide range of properties.

Related Software and Services:

Materials Studio MesoDyn - dynamic simulation method
Materials Studio CASTEP - density functional theory (DFT) quantum mechanical code to simulate the properties of solids, interfaces, and surfaces
Materials Studio DMol³ - density functional theory (DFT) quantum mechanical code to simulate chemical processes and predict properties
Materials Studio Discover -a powerful atomistic simulation program developed to study a wide range of molecular systems and materials.
Materials Studio Amorphous Cell - comprehensive set of model construction, simulation, and analysis tools for predicting properties of amorphous systems
Contract Research & Scientific Consulting Services - organizations who are either resource-restricted or feel that they have no computational chemistry expertise choose Accelrys’ Contract Research Services to help find solution for their business-critical scientific needs

Related Case Studies:

Carbon Nanotube Growth Studies at ST Microelectronics - Researchers investigated how carbon nanotubes of controlled chirality could be grown

Effect of adsorbates on field emission from carbon nanotubes (Motorola) - Researchers studied ways to optimize field emissions from carbon nanotubes

Influence of process conditions on phase separation - Block copolymers are investigated as templates for future high density storage devices. Their structures as well as the effect of processing conditions can be studied with Accelrys mesoscale tools.

Nanotechnology ROI at e2v Technologies - an Interview with Dr. Richard Gilbert, Principal Scientist (Biosensors) - Electronics company e2v used Accelrys tools to optimize biosensors systems, ranging from the chemistry used for a self-assembled monolayer on the electrodes to optimizing the signal-to-noise ratio of system

Bibliography: Electronics - Beyond Silicon

“Modeling HfO2/SiO2/Si interface”, J. L. Gavartin, A. L. Shluger, Microelectronic Engineering 84 (2007) 2412–2415.
“Thermodynamic stability and band alignment at a metal-high-k dielectric interface”, A. Demkov, Physical Review B 74 (2006) 085310.
“Density functional theory analysis of infrared modes in carbon-incorporated SiO2”, M. Petersen, M. T. Schulberg and L. A. Gochberg, Applied Physics Letters 82 No. 13 (2003) pp.2041-2043.
“Theoretical study of reaction mechanisms of ZrCl4 with hydrated and hydroxlated Si(100) surfaces,” M. Petersen, Comp. Mat. Sci. 30, 77 (2004).