Nanotechnology, the infrastructure, and IBM s research projects Dr. Paul Seidler Coordinator Nanotechnology Center, IBM Research - Zurich Nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter at dimensions of roughly 1 to 100 nanometers, where unique phenomena enable novel applications. 2 1
3 Invented by two IBM scientists in Zurich in 1981, the STM opened the world of nanoscience. 3 20 years ago IBM scientist Don Eigler demonstrated the ability to build structures at the atomic level by spelling out "I-B-M" with individual xenon atoms 4 2
Nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter at dimensions of roughly 1 to 100 nanometers, where unique phenomena enable novel applications. Fe atom corral Melting point of gold Melting point: 1064 C Source: K.J. Klabunde, 2001 Integrated circuits Displays Hard-disk drives 5 The scale of things nanometers and more Things natural Ant ~5 mm Dust mite ~200 m Human hair ~60-120 m Micro world Red blood cells ~7-8 m Virus 25-100 nm Ø DNA 2-0.5 nm Ø Nano world Silicon atoms spacing 0.078 nm 10-2 m 10-3 m 10-4 m 10-5 m 10-6 m 10-7 m 10-8 m 10-9 m 10-10 m 1 cm 10 mm Microwave 0.1 mm 100 m 0.01 mm 10 m Infrared Visible 0.1 m 1,000 nanometers 100 nm = 1 micrometer ( m) Ultraviolet 0.01 m 10 nm Soft x-ray 0.1 nm 1 nanometer (nm) Quantum corral ~14 nm Ø Head of a pin ~1-2 mm Ø Pollen grain Red blood cells Things manmade Micro-Electro-Mechanical (MEMS) devices ~10-100 m CMOS transistor gate ~35 nm Source: http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/scale_of_things.html 6 Nanotube electrode Carbon buckyball ~1 nm Ø Carbon nanotube ~1.3 nm Ø 3
Nano everywhere Sensors Anti-stick coatings Scratch-resistant paints Optical communication Regenerative medicine Photovoltaics Self-cleaning paints and textiles Nano- Pore DN A DNA sequencing Filtration and purification 7 The infrastructure Leading-edge science requires a leading-edge infrastructure at the Binnig and Rohrer Nanotechnology Center industry and academia are creating it together. Nanotechnology Center Cleanroom ~ 950 m 2 Noise-free laboratories Off-line labs and offices Total floor space ~ 6 500 m 2 8 4
Cleanroom processes/equipment Tools/process sectors - Lithography - Pattern definition - Wet processing - Substrate cleaning, wet chemical etching - Thin film deposition - Metals, isolators,... - Dry etching - Material removal using (reactive) gases - Thermal processing - Oxidation, annealing, vapor phase deposition - Metrology/inspection - Optical and electron microscopes, surface topology - Thickness measurements,... - Backend - Plating, lapping/polishing, dicing, bonding - IBM sector - Polymer waveguide processing for optical interconnects A user facility Cleanroom class 100/1000 No fixed wafer size Flexibility is important 9 Ground floor: cleanroom with separate partner entrance Entrance ETH / 3 rd parties Entrance IBM Connection to existing IBM buildings 10 5
Ultra-stable noise-free laboratories Sonntagszeitung Goals: Mechanical vibrations: 0.5 um/s (x,y), 5 nm/s (z) below 16 Hz Acoustic noise: <50 dbc (<55 dbc / f>100hz) Electromagnetic fields: B < 5 nt Temperature: 0.1 C/h Measures: Passive mechanical damping, f>2hz Active mechanical damping, f=0.5-0.8 Hz Passive EM shielding (Faraday cage), 20 nt Helmholtz coils with active compensation for B<20 nt 11 What kind of research are we doing? 12 6
Information processing and storage Nanoelectronics Beyond charged-based logic Materials for future CMOS transistors Spintronics Semiconductor nanowires Molecular electronics Storage-class memory Carbon-based devices Quantum devices 13 Semiconducting nanowires for field-effect transistors Ideal electrostatic geometry Low power consumption due to sharp switching Material combinations not possible in planar devices InAs Nanowires on Si 14 InAs/Si Nanowire Tunnel FET 7
Photonics for data communication Optical interconnects Integrated Si photonics New materials/devices Optics to the carrier CARRIER BOARD THERMAL LID CHIP FLEX OE-SUB- ASSEMBLY MT-CONN. FI Modulators V a c V b Photonic bandgap structures Polymer waveguides Switches All optical switches Passively-aligned optical connectors (De-)Multiplexing Non-linear materials 15 Photonics vision: >1 TFLOP on a 3-D chip Optical I/O On-chip optical traffic Photonic plane Memory plane Logic plane Optical switch network Photonic layer not only connects various cores, but also routes the traffic Modulation Switching Detection V b (De-)Multiplexing Generation V ac PIN Modulator Coupled Ring Resonators Ge Photodiode Cascaded Mach-Zehnder splitter Second-order 2D photonic crystal 16 8