Abstract: This talk will overview our efforts to modularize nanoelectronic components and scale-up their manufacturing. We aim to lower production costs by orders-of-magnitude, effectively making these “nanomodular” components cost-free compared to the state-of-the-art, while maintaining performance. Our approach promises microelectronic circuits that are naturally heterogeneous, customizable, reconfigurable, and on-demand deployable.

We synergistically combine multiple bottom-up processes: (i) vapor-liquid-solid growth to create semiconductor nanowires, (ii) a new nanopatterning method to define key features, and (iii) area-selective atomic layer deposition. This approach produces single-crystalline, high-mobility nanowires with coaxial thin films aligned with the nanowires’ internal dopant profile.

To further scale up production, we’ve also developed the Geode Process. This method uses the inner surfaces of hollow silica microcapsules as a substrate for growing nanowires and performing subsequent processing, substantially boosting manufacturing output. In parallel, we are collaborating on methods for the efficient, non-contact characterization of nanowire electronic properties as well as high-resolution printing techniques to interconnect nanomodular devices into functional circuitry.

Bio: Michael A. Filler is a professor and the Traylor Faculty Fellow in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech. His research focuses on the synthesis, understanding, and scalable manufacturing of semiconductor nanowires and devices to enable “hyper-scalable” electronic systems. He holds a courtesy appointment in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. Filler is also the interim executive director of the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology. Prior to joining the faculty at Georgia Tech, Filler earned a B.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Cornell University and Stanford University, respectively, and completed postdoctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology. Filler has been recognized for his research and teaching with the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Georgia Tech Sigma Xi Young Faculty Award, and as a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Environmental Chemistry Mentor.

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A boxed lunch will be served on a first come, first served basis.