Researchers model next-generation transistors on Kraken
(National Institute for Comutational Sciences, a UT/ORNL Partnership) Researchers from Purdue University are using Kraken, a Cray XT5 supercomputer located at the National Institute for Computational Sciences (NICS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, to model nanotubes, nanoribbons, nanowires, and a special type of nanotransistor known as a band-to-band tunneling field-effect transistor (TFET).
National Institute for Comutational Sciences, a UT/ORNL Partnership
August 31, 2009
http://www.nics.tennessee.edu/nano_nano
In a daunting effort to continue consumer headaches and technology’s amazing progression of power, researchers from Purdue University are using Kraken, a Cray XT5 supercomputer funded by the National Science Foundation, managed by the University of Tennessee, and located at the National Institute for Computational Sciences (NICS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, to model next-generation transistor devices; nanotubes, nanoribbons, nanowires, and a special type of nanotransistor known as a band-to-band tunneling field-effect transistor (TFET) are all being explored.
These immensely powerful—but tiny—technologies are on the order of 10 nanometers, or billionths of a meter, in size, or approximately 5,000 times smaller than a human hair. Ironically, they are being simulated on one of the world’s largest and most powerful computers. “We are currently building simulated transistors atom by atom on Kraken,” said Mathieu Luisier, an assistant research professor at the Network for Computational Nanotechnology at Purdue University and the principal investigator for the project.