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Colloquium September 19

Date: Friday September 19

Time: 16:00 to 17:00

Place: 455 McBryde, Commons Room

Speaker: Max Di Ventra of Virginia Tech Physics Dept

Title: Understanding transport at the nanoscale: physical issues and open questions

Abstract

Using atomic and molecular wires as components in electronic circuits is an appealing idea: such systems can be synthesized with feature lengths of about 1 nm, so if we could assemble them onto a chip, as we do today with solid-state transistors, we would gain orders of magnitude in integration levels. However, in order to advance such a technology several physical issues that have been a major concern for conventional microelectronics need to be addressed at the nanoscale.

I will present an overview of recent work in first-principles calculations of electronic transport in nanoscale conductors for which experimental results are available. In particular, I will discuss effects like contact geometry and chemistry, electromigration, local heating, and current fluctuations, and focus on their description at the atomic level. Particular attention will be given to fundamental open questions regarding these effects, and their impact on nanoscale electronics.

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