Nanoscale Simulation Tools

Besides the exciting novel capabilities and opportunities, nanoelectronics pose a number of challenges that were not present in the field of “traditional” electronic devices. Whereas trial-and-error engineering was a successful approach for most of the history of traditional materials, this is more difficult in the field of nanoscale materials, where fundamental understanding on the atomic level is required in many cases for successful design. In this area, computer modeling poses incredible new chances (besides the many challenges) for targeted design and fast time-to-market when developing new devices. This tutorial will introduce into the area of process simulation techniques on the nanoscale and discuss applications for nanoelectronic devices.

Course Instructor

Wolfgang Windl, Associate Professor at the Ohio State University, Columbus, USA. Professor Windl works in the area of Nanoscale Computational Materials Science. His field of expertise is in the area of atomistic simulations, especially within density-functional theory. Currently, he works on nanostructured interfaces and molecule-surface interactions of semiconductor device systems. Previously, he spent four years with Motorola, first as Senior Staff Scientist in Motorola's Computational Materials Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and later as a Principal Staff Scientist in the Digital DNA Laboratories in Austin, Texas, where he was working in the area of multiscale modeling of semiconductor processing. Before that, he held postdoctoral positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Arizona State University. He received his diploma and doctoral degree in physics from the University of Regensburg, Germany. Wolfgang Windl is on the editorial board of the Journal of Computational Electronics and the Journal of Theoretical and Computational Nanoscience. Among others, he has been Chairman of the International Conference on Computational Nanoscience (www.nsti.org) and is recipient of 1998 and 1999 Patent and Licensing Awards from Los Alamos National Laboratory for his contributions to the molecular modeling code CLSMAN. He has given more than 30 invited talks at international conferences and research institutions and has been awarded twice the “Best Teacher” recognition of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University.

Who Should Attend

This course is an introductory- to intermediate- level course suitable for anyone interested in materials design and/or in nanoelectronics devices. The audience will typically include the practicing materials engineer in research or development, industrial scientists on a decision-making level who want to understand nanotechnology and materials design as basis for strategic planning, and academic researchers in the process of developing a strong nanotechnology program within their research portfolio. Also policy makers on different levels with some technical background will achieve insight into the computational side of materials design.

Topics

• Concept of nanoscale process modeling
• Multiscale and atomic-scale process modeling
• Atomistic to continuum
• Atomistic to Monte Carlo
• Accelerated dynamics methods
• Case studies for molecular electronics and nanoelectronic devices

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