Funded by the Department of Energy, these centers are part of an effort that brings together national laboratories, universities and industry to invent and accelerate novel microelectronics technologies to operate efficiently or in extreme environments.
Around the globe day and night, the microelectronics behind much of modern technology help run computers, medical devices and state-of-the-art instruments that power scientific discoveries. But all of that technology consumes energy, and adding artificial intelligence to the mix increases our energy needs dramatically. Some experts caution that this pace of energy usage is unsustainable.
To tackle this challenge, the Department of Energy (DOE) has announced funding $179 million for three Microelectronics Science Research Centers that bring together multi-institutional, multidisciplinary projects in partnership with industry. The centers are organized around making microelectronics more energy efficient and able to operate better in extreme environments.
The DOE's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory will lead two projects in the Microelectronics Energy Efficiency Research Center for Advanced Technologies (MEERCAT). The lab will also partner in projects for the Extreme Lithography & Materials Innovation Center (ELMIC) and Co-design & Heterogeneous Integration for Microelectronics in Extreme Environments (CHIME) center.
"Advancements in microelectronics are critical to furthering scientific discovery," said Harriet Kung, DOE Office of Science Deputy Director for Science Programs. "The innovations that come from these research centers will improve our daily lives and drive forward U.S. leadership in science and technology."
Reimagining microelectronics for energy efficiency
Existing methods for shrinking devices are approaching their limits, so researchers must find a fresh approach to microelectronics that balances demands for more computing power and handling more data while reducing energy consumption. To address these challenges, MEERCAT is poised to innovate the design and discovery of new materials, devices and systems architectures for microelectronics to push the limits of current computing and sensing capabilities, critical areas for the DOE scientific mission.
The center will host Enabling Science for Transformative Energy-Efficient Microelectronics (ESTEEM), a project led by Paul McIntyre, SLAC associate lab director for the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, and includes partners from Stanford University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and University of Texas, San Antonio. The team will concentrate on advancing new methods for manufacturing, metrology, design and simulation of energy-efficient microelectronics, including discovery of nanostructured materials, new device architectures and software-hardware integration.