1. The Advanced Low-dimensional Electronics & Nano-science Team
talent
The Advanced Low-dimensional Electronics & Nano-science Team
Xufeng Kou
School of Information Science and Technology
ShanghaiTech University

2. talent We Need Heart! Foundry
Intel M-5Y70 – 14 nm vs. SMIC – 40 nm
The smaller, the much more complex & expensive
Success of Samsung Electronics (RAM, AMOLED, graphene)
We need the heart to lead the new heart (spintronics) direction !
Everyone knows that our China need the heart (chip technology) of information industry. It is indeed a sad truth that our current fab technology lags too far behind the leaders, and as the device size continuously scaling down to sub-20nm scale, the fab and process R&D costs increase enormously such that we cannot copy TSMC’s experience. On the other hand, we can definitely learn the success from Samsung Electronics (instead of following the leader’s pace and relying on tech. transfer, Samsung made huge effort in new device & tech. development. Now their SRAM/DRAM & display has occupied a large share in the market, and they have become the leader in the next flexible/wearable device research based on graphene.)
Therefore, in my humble opinion, it is the time we show our encourage and focus our effort on the next-generation spintronics development.

3. talent Action Items Grand Visions: Device Physics Integration Circuit
Pursuit of novel semiconductors and new device concepts based on nanoelectronics and spintronics.
Design of low-power, non-volatile devices compatible/complementary with next-generation spintronics state-of-art.
Development of device integrations into next-generation spintronics analog/digital networks.
Device
Physics
Integration
Circuit
Design

4. Ultra-high mobility conduction channel
Multi-functional 2D Electronics
talent
Van der Waals 2D Materials
Atomic-scale Lego block
Ultra-high mobility conduction channel
Tunneling Barrier
Electrode
2D-materials Skyscrapers
Tunable Bandgap
In our TALENT, the first thing we would like to work on is the multi-functional electronics based on the Van der Waals 2D materials. Unlike conventional covalent-bonded semiconductors, such Van der Waals 2D materials all have layered structure, and the Van der Waals force between each layer is quite smaller. Therefore, such salient structural property provided them huge advantages in the electronics applications.
The main reasons I chose this topic as my first research direction are (1) these 2D materials have different features and can be used as different elements in constructing the device/circuit; (2) people have done a lot of work characterizing the properties of each 2D materials individually, jet few have tried to study the heterostructures; (3) most of these materials (with high-quality) are available in the market, therefore we can start our research even before the whole set-up of our lab is completed. (1st year)
Spin Divider

5. talent TOPFET & Interconnect
Vds VG
Gate FM
Non-FM
Al2O3
TI Channel
(magnetic) TI as spin injector, channel, and detector
Energy-dissipationless Interconnect based on QAHE for both spin and electron
Chirality enables reprogrammable architecture
The second direction we would like to look for is TI-based spintronics device physics/concept investigations. Based on my 5 year experience on TI study, I personally believe TIs are one of the best candidates for spintronics applications due to their unique surface states.
In this direction, we will push the progress on (1) observe spin-related effects at higher temperature; (2) use (magnetic) TI as the building block to construct all-spintronics device; (3) wafer-scale device fabrication with high yield and reproducibility.
In order to carry out TI-related study, we need to relevant instrument for materials growth and characterization. (2nd year)

6. Memory for Spintronics 6 transistors for one cell
talent
6 transistors for one cell
Low density, Volatile
STT-RAM
1 transistor + 1 MTJ
Higher density, Non-Volatile
Low Power
SOT-RAM
1 transistor + 1 MTJ + 1 metal layer
High density, Non-Volatile
Lower Power
Another important device concept our TALENT group would like to investigate is about the non-volatile memory based on spin-related effect. It is known that today’s cache (SRAM) takes up a large portion of the CPU yet its density is small. To make thing worse, since the logic state (memory) requires the external power, it is volatile.
Alternatively, it has been argued that the new-generation memory device based on spin-related effects (spin-transfer-torque, spin-Hall-effect) would have more advantages in terms of smaller cell-size, faster process time, and non-volatile property (the term non-volatile refers to devices and circuits which do not require the continuous application of a voltage to retain their information). Consequently, if we can develop wafer-scale spintronics memory and integrate it into microprocessor chip, the whole picture of future’s computer will change dramatically.
For this project, we need to relevant instruments for memory stacking layers growth and fabrication. (2nd-3nd year)

7. Circuit Level Spintronics
talent
Logic Function Block for
Spintronics CPU
Spin-transfer RAM for Memory
After we have our spintronics device ready, the final stage we would like to work on is to design the circuit level spintronics. Due to the complexity of this task, we would like to work closely with circuit groups within and outside ShanghaiTech Univ. (5+ year)
Non-volatile Spintronics
Logic Circuit

8. Nano-Fabrication Center
(OPTIONAL)
talent
As far as I know, even in America, it is a rather sad truth that the nano-fabrication facilities in most universities are shared by different departments such as Electrical Engineering, Material Science, Chemistry, and Applied Physics. Under such circumstances, it is impossible to achieve the ultra-clean condition required for high-performance electronic devices. To avoid unnecessary contaminations, it is thus extremely important for SIST to have our own cleanroom which is exclusively dedicated to the electronic device developments and characterizations.
If possible, with the support from SIST and ShanghaiTech, I am willing to become one of the participants for the development of this challenging but significant program in the following years.

9. Together we’ll go far Summary talent
Solid knowledge of semiconductors, device physics, and circuit design.
5+ years hand-on skills in semiconductor growth, fabrication, and device characterization.
Well-established collaborations with first-class research group and institute around the world.
Leadership, Persistence, Enthusiasm
Bellwether of non-volatile, low-power spin-electronics research
SIST to be the birthplace of the next technology revolution
Together we’ll go far