Research

The research activities of the institute are centred round the innovative concepts enabling a drastic reduction of power consumption in future information circuitry. The ongoing increase in the volume of data and in consequence the increase in computer capacity requires innovation to improve the energy efficiency substantially. With the economy of scale running out of power, energy efficiency will be the technology driver of the future. It is envisioned that these concepts will be boosted by the discovery of new materials and material combinations, called hybrid structures, enabling memory based computing architectures. Combining those bio- or brain-inspired neuromorphic chips with high rate data transmission provided by silicon photonics and large external memories may provide a versatile architecture for ultra-low energy computing. The science of the institute is directed towards the development of building blocks for those systems in the near- to midterm timeline with the perspective to further integrate these building blocks in conceptual device circuitry in a longer time frame.

Nanocluster

The institute hosts a state-of-the-art multi-material cluster (NanoCluster) tool. The tool provides a unique combination of nine UHV epitaxial/deposition systems including MBE, ALD, and sputtering. It offers the possibility for in-situ growth of complex nanostructures from III-V and II-VI (ZnSe based) semiconductors, metals, oxides, magnetic and phase change materials.

Logic and memory based on memristive circuits

Prior to the foundation of the PGI-10, JARA-FIT activities in the field of Green-IT explored the potential of memristive devices and memristive crossbar arrays for memory-intensive computing paradigms. The non-volatility of the devices enables logic-in-memory operations.

Merging resistive switches and CMOS for functional circuits

The focus of research of the former Chair of Electrical Engineering and Computer Systems (EECS) at RWTH Aachen University was given in the field of circuits based on resistive switches (RS) and nano-scaled CMOS devices. Particular application domains cover nonvolatile distributed memories, reconfigurable logic, and artificial neural networks.

Method Development: EUV interference lithography

The research is focused on the investigation of resolution limits of interference and proximity lithography with EUV radiation. Various types of laboratory EUV sources were examined with regard to yielding the highest pattern density and quality.

Future Development

Within the JARA-FIT consortia and support from the department of computer science the research of the institute will aim to the development of brain-inspired computing architectures.