Thin combinatorial films for heat management in microelectronics. This project aims to provide a viable solution for heat management in microelectronics by using highly efficient Peltier devices made with thin combinatorial films. Heat generated by electric current, which is ubiquitous in microelectronic devices, has become increasingly problematic for high density charge-based logical circuitries. The project will significantly enhance the energy conversion efficiency of Peltier devices by opti ....Thin combinatorial films for heat management in microelectronics. This project aims to provide a viable solution for heat management in microelectronics by using highly efficient Peltier devices made with thin combinatorial films. Heat generated by electric current, which is ubiquitous in microelectronic devices, has become increasingly problematic for high density charge-based logical circuitries. The project will significantly enhance the energy conversion efficiency of Peltier devices by optimising the interdependent electron and phonon transports, simultaneously, with a new concept of thin combinatorial films for heat management in microelectronic devices. This is expected to facilitate the development of novel materials in Australia, with access to a large global market.Read moreRead less
Beyond the Ferroelectric Field Effect Transistors. The von Neumann paradigm is the foundation of modern computing systems, which are based on the data exchange between central processing unit (CPU) and memory. The physical separation between the CPU and memory will cause von Neumann bottleneck – a memory wall to limit the data processing speed for contextually intelligent applications. This project aims to develop a novel ferroelectric field effect transistor that integrates a ferroelectric mat ....Beyond the Ferroelectric Field Effect Transistors. The von Neumann paradigm is the foundation of modern computing systems, which are based on the data exchange between central processing unit (CPU) and memory. The physical separation between the CPU and memory will cause von Neumann bottleneck – a memory wall to limit the data processing speed for contextually intelligent applications. This project aims to develop a novel ferroelectric field effect transistor that integrates a ferroelectric material into a semiconductor transistor structure to merge logic and memory functionalities in a single-device level. This will solve the memory wall problem while provide low power, high speed, high density and long data retention time for future logic-in-memory and data centric computing paradigms.Read moreRead less
Development of Novel Spin Caloritronic Materials and Devices for Heat Management in Nanoelectronic Systems. Spin caloritronics is a new field that combines concepts from spintronics and thermoelectricity. This project is inspired by spin Seebeck effect observed in magnetic insulators and motivated by the basic requirements of nanoscale heat management devices. Such devices are the key components promising to surmount fundamental limits of microelectronic technologies with heat dissipation and p ....Development of Novel Spin Caloritronic Materials and Devices for Heat Management in Nanoelectronic Systems. Spin caloritronics is a new field that combines concepts from spintronics and thermoelectricity. This project is inspired by spin Seebeck effect observed in magnetic insulators and motivated by the basic requirements of nanoscale heat management devices. Such devices are the key components promising to surmount fundamental limits of microelectronic technologies with heat dissipation and power consumption as the size of charge-based logic devices shrinks into nanometre scale. This program is aimed at experimental and theoretical development of novel spin caloritronic materials with spin Seebeck effect at ambient temperature, which is orders of magnitude higher than state-of-the-art materials, for heat management in nanoelectronic systems.Read moreRead less
Nanostructured ferroic oxides: Why does defect-induced nanoscale heterogeneity matter? Ferroic oxides are an important class of functional materials used in applications such as storage memories, medical devices and smart sensors. This project will significantly impact the fundamental understanding and development of ferroic devices by revealing the underpinning interface mechanisms that govern their behaviour in nanostructured form.
Microelectronic Applications of Improved Silicon Light Emission. While semiconductor silicon chips have been the workhorse of the microelectronics revolution, more complex semiconductor materials have driven the communications revolution. Australian developments during 2001 have largely dispelled the myth that silicon is fundamentally a poor emitter of light. This project aims to build on this work by developing silicon light emitters suitable for integration into high density integrated circu ....Microelectronic Applications of Improved Silicon Light Emission. While semiconductor silicon chips have been the workhorse of the microelectronics revolution, more complex semiconductor materials have driven the communications revolution. Australian developments during 2001 have largely dispelled the myth that silicon is fundamentally a poor emitter of light. This project aims to build on this work by developing silicon light emitters suitable for integration into high density integrated circuits, adding a new dimension to the capabilities of these circuits, driving microelectronics and the information age to the next stage of development.Read moreRead less
Dynamic signal processing with currents. Today's digital computers and communications devices, such as mobile phones, contain continuous time filters as necessary and important components. We will investigate an integrated circuit design methodology for the creation of fully programmable versions of such filters. Currently these filters are redesigned for each application and are often external to the IC. This increases the size and cost of the design. Another outcome of the methodology is a cur ....Dynamic signal processing with currents. Today's digital computers and communications devices, such as mobile phones, contain continuous time filters as necessary and important components. We will investigate an integrated circuit design methodology for the creation of fully programmable versions of such filters. Currently these filters are redesigned for each application and are often external to the IC. This increases the size and cost of the design. Another outcome of the methodology is a current domain signal processor. This will be capable of modelling complex systems such as biological neurons and stock option pricing. We will build these systems and interface them with digital computers.Read moreRead less
Theoretical and Numerical Analyses on Smart-Cut Technology. Smart-cut is an innovative and effective technique for fabricating high quality silicon-on-insulator structures which are widely used in the semiconductor and microelectronics industries. The quantification of the effects of processing parameters and the optimization of smart-cut process will be conducted in this project. The results are expected to make significant contributions to reducing cost, increasing efficiency and optimizing pr ....Theoretical and Numerical Analyses on Smart-Cut Technology. Smart-cut is an innovative and effective technique for fabricating high quality silicon-on-insulator structures which are widely used in the semiconductor and microelectronics industries. The quantification of the effects of processing parameters and the optimization of smart-cut process will be conducted in this project. The results are expected to make significant contributions to reducing cost, increasing efficiency and optimizing procedure by providing a theoretical and quantitative design methodology to improve the smart-cut technique. Consequently, the outcomes and results of the project will bring many benefits to and encourage further R&D in the semiconductor and microelectronics industries in Australia.Read moreRead less
Auditory perception in neural electronics. This project aims to develop a practical alternative to conventional electronic design. Faster and more powerful devices have resulted from placing ever more transistors on a computer chip, but this is reaching its physical limits. This project will develop a new way of designing smart electronic devices by taking inspiration from signal processing in biological brains, and applying it to the processing of audio signals. Expected outcomes are a device t ....Auditory perception in neural electronics. This project aims to develop a practical alternative to conventional electronic design. Faster and more powerful devices have resulted from placing ever more transistors on a computer chip, but this is reaching its physical limits. This project will develop a new way of designing smart electronic devices by taking inspiration from signal processing in biological brains, and applying it to the processing of audio signals. Expected outcomes are a device that recognises sounds, without needing remote computers to do the processing. These techniques can be applied to other senses, such as vision, advancing machine perception and enabling smarter devices.Read moreRead less
A Skin Detection Micro-Sensor for Face Identification using Color and Stereo Information. The objective of this research is to develop a micro-sensor for face identification, using color and stereo information. The micro-sensor chip performs a real-time search of the scene to locate human skin for subsequent face detection. This micro-sensor could also be used for gesture recognition, lip reading, monitoring driver's hypo-vigilance or tracking a person in a crowd. The chip image-recognition capa ....A Skin Detection Micro-Sensor for Face Identification using Color and Stereo Information. The objective of this research is to develop a micro-sensor for face identification, using color and stereo information. The micro-sensor chip performs a real-time search of the scene to locate human skin for subsequent face detection. This micro-sensor could also be used for gesture recognition, lip reading, monitoring driver's hypo-vigilance or tracking a person in a crowd. The chip image-recognition capabilities will spur the development of a new generation of consumer products with "intelligent eyes".
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Exploring electronic functionality in low-dimensional carbon and boron-nitride nanomaterials via advanced theoretical modelling. This project will spawn innovative carbon/boron nitride materials for next-generation electronics devices by devising new strategies to manipulate and control electronic structure as well as charge/spin transport properties. Outcomes will include technological breakthroughs leading to truly smaller, faster and smarter electronics materials.