Software Tools for the Design of Nanoscale Electronic Devices and Circuits

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project features as the main goal, the development of a simulator of nanoscale electronic devices, and circuits. Emphasis will be placed on devices and circuits that are based on carbon nanotubes, or tunneling in lithographically defined junctions. The simulator will be based partly on the extensive collection of theoretical and numerical techniques that have been developed by the firm to describe charge transport in single electron devices. A diagrammatic technique and non-interacting Green's functions were used to obtain the tunneling rates in such junctions. Those techniques will be extended to describe the nanotubes. A graphical user interface will be developed, as well as a module that provides movies of the dynamics of charge flow. A package that enables the visualization of charge transport in these ultrasmall devices is expected to be a stimulating teaching and learning tool. with the standard SPICE package. Powerful simulation tools are essential for the evaluation and development of nanoelectronic devices and systems. The primary customers of the proposed nanosystems simulator is expected to be chip manufacturers, manufacturers of high sensitivity electrical measuring instruments and academic researchers.