Introduction

Introduction
Six Research Thrusts

The center integrates six research thrusts in molecular based nanostructures, semiconductor-based nanostructures, device concepts and modeling, nanofabrication characterization, image and information processing, and functional systems design to address common application goals. The six thrusts comprise a multidisciplinary mix of researchers from the Departments of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Physics, and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

The thrust activities are synergistically planned, managed and executed through the leadership of the Center Director, Professor Wolfgang Porod, and Associate Center Director, Professor Alan C. Seabaugh, so as to provide a coherent approach to targeted and evolving concepts.

Excellent Facilities
The center has excellent on-site research facilities and capabilities including nanolithography and scanning tunneling microscopy; nanodevice and circuit fabrication; nano-optical characterization including femtosecond optics and near-field scanning optical microscopy;electrical characterization at helium temperatures and in ten tesla magnetic fields; fifty gigahertz high-speed circuit analysis; and device and circuit simulation and modeling. In recent years, federal grants received to support research in nano science and technology, sum to approximately ten million dollars, including two major grants from DARPA, the ULTRA MOLECTRONICS programs, and several other awards from NSF, ARO, and ONR.

Current Activities
The center engages in a variety of research initiatives in nanoscience and electronics, such as quantum cellular automata and architectures; resonant-tunneling devices and circuits; photonic integrated circuits; quantum transport and hot carrier effects in nanodevices; optical and high-speed nano-based materials, devices, and circuits.

In the future, the Center will spearhead several new directions including the interaction of biological systems with semiconductors, and the role of non-equilibrium thermodynamics in influencing the properties of nanodevices.

A major emphasis of the center is the concept of computing with Quantum-dot Cellular Automata, which is based on encoding binary information through the charge configuration of quantum-dot cells; the QCA notion has spurned further studies into nano-based cellular architectures for information processing which embeds hierarchical functional design.