Abstract: Conventional scaling of silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors as dictated by Moore’s Law has led to faster and more power-efficient devices with exponentially diminishing cost during the last five decades. However, improvements have become increasingly difficult as silicon transistors approach their physical limits.

In this talk, I will review our recent efforts in exploiting novel electronic materials to realize new types of electronic devices that will potentially allow us to sustain the current pace of performance growth for solid-state electronics. For microelectronics, we have established carbon nanotubes as a promising material for constructing a logic switch with both better scalability to a smaller footprint and processability toward monolithic three-dimensional integration.

Meanwhile, new types of memory devices based on carbon nanomaterials and functional oxides promise to enable new computing paradigms beyond the von Neumann architecture. For macroelectronics, progress in both semiconductor materials and substrates have dramatically improved performance and functionality, making them attractive for future edge-computing and biomedical applications.

Bio: Qing Cao is an associate professor of materials science and Engineering and, by courtesy, of chemistry and electrical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his B.Sc. in Cchemistry from Nanjing University and his Ph.D. in materials vhemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Cao’s interdisciplinary research focuses on developing functional nanomaterials for unconventional electronic systems, high-performance logic devices, and low-cost energy harvesting.