Advancements with carbon nanotube digital systems

Abstract

Carbon Nanotube FETs (CNFETs) are excellent candidates for the next generation of high-performance and energy-efficient electronics, as CNFET-based digital circuits are projected to potentially achieve an order of magnitude improvement in energy-delay product at highly scaled technology nodes. This paper presents an overview of the first demonstration of a computer implemented entirely using CNFETs. The CNT computer is capable of performing multitasking: as a demonstration, we perform counting and integer-sorting simultaneously. In addition, we emulate 20 different instructions from the commercial MIPS instruction set to demonstrate the generality of our CNT computer. This is the most complex carbon-based electronic system yet demonstrated. It is a considerable advance because CNTs are prominent among a variety of emerging technologies that are being considered for the next generation of highly energy-efficient electronic systems. In addition to performance and energy benefits, CNFETs also provide a unique opportunity to achieve monolithic three-dimensional (3D) integration through low-temperature CNFET processing. Monolithic 3D integration is an attractive technological option because it enables a very high density of Inter-Layer Vias compared to Through-Silicon Vias. A summary of monolithic 3D CNFET integrated circuit demonstrations will also be given.