2-D Crystal Electronics for Energy-Efficient Terabit Communication Links

用于节能太比特通信链路的二维晶体电子器件

• 批准号: 262288-2013
• 负责人: Voinigescu, Sorin
• 金额: $ 2.99万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=637613
• 关键词: Crystal; Electronics; Energy; Efficient; Terabit

By 2007, before the iPhone and the iPad were introduced, the US ICT industry already had a larger carbon footprint than the airline industry. Since then, the proliferation of wireless communication devices, of social media (Faceboook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.) and cloud computing has only exacerbated the annual growth rate of energy consumption attributed to the ICT industry. We now have 2049 data centers worldwide which consume 30 billion Watts, the equivalent of 30 nuclear power stations. On a per capita basis, Canadians rank ahead of Americans in terms of Internet usage and enrollment in social media websites. Our appetite for wireless communication seems insatiable. Unfortunately, of all communication links, wireless is the least efficient. The outlook is just as bleak for computation. Lack of transistor subthreshold slope improvement and lack of appropriate supply voltage scaling during the last 12 years has meant that microprocessors have become power-density limited. While parallel and multicore microprocessor architectures have temporarily alleviated the problem at the expense of increased communication across the chip and stalled clock frequency, only by inventing new transistors with steeper subthreshold slopes, faster transport, and higher current driving capability, which will permit operation from 0.3 to 0.1 V supplies, will the power density trend be curbed or reversed.With a focus on the development of (i) new submillimetre-wave (250-500 GHz) high efficiency digital transmitters for terabit data rate short range wireless communication and of (ii) novel nanoscale metal nanowire and 2-D crystal transistors, this research proposal aims to increase the energy efficiency of data centres and of wireless links by 2-3 orders of magnitude. The research output will consist of the physical implementation of sub-10nm transistors and of short range wireless links operating at close to 0.5 Tb/s. These revolutionary devices and wireless links will help to re-establish Canada's position as a leading player in the ICT field and will lead to radically new technologies, products and companies.

到 2007 年，在 iPhone 和 iPad 推出之前，美国 ICT 行业的碳足迹已经超过了航空业。此后，无线通信设备、社交媒体（Faceboook、Twitter、Linkedin 等）和云计算的激增，加剧了 ICT 行业能源消耗的年增长率。目前，我们在全球拥有 2049 个数据中心，耗电量达 300 亿瓦，相当于 30 个核电站。按人均计算，加拿大人在互联网使用和社交媒体网站注册方面领先于美国人。我们对无线通信的胃口似乎无法满足。不幸的是，在所有通信链路中，无线是效率最低的。计算的前景同样黯淡。在过去 12 年中，晶体管亚阈值斜率缺乏改进，并且缺乏适当的电源电压缩放，这意味着微处理器的功率密度受到限制。虽然并行和多核微处理器架构暂时缓解了这个问题，但代价是增加了芯片之间的通信和停滞的时钟频率，只有通过发明具有更陡峭的亚阈值斜率、更快的传输和更高的电流驱动能力的新晶体管，这将允许从 0.3电源电压降低至 0.1 V，功率密度趋势是否会得到遏制或逆转。重点开发 (i) 新型亚毫米波 (250-500 GHz) 高效数字该研究提案旨在将数据中心和无线链路的能源效率提高 2-3 个数量级。研究成果将包括 10nm 以下晶体管的物理实现以及运行速度接近 0.5 Tb/s 的短距离无线链路。这些革命性的设备和无线链路将有助于重新确立加拿大作为信息通信技术领域领先者的地位，并将带来全新的技术、产品和公司。