The research community has great expectations for 2D materials, since they represent one of the most promising options towards the flexible electronics revolution. However, many issues still remain unsolved, and the set of materials is very broad and poorly characterized. Therefore, simulation-based investigations are a powerful tool in order to guide and inform progress in the field.

This tutorial will focus on electron devices based on 2D-materials, on the assessment of their expected performance, and on technology exploration through numerical simulations.

Several devices based on 2D-materials have indeed already been proposed, fabricated, and measured in experiments. However, a lot of work is needed to evaluate their possible performance in electronic systems, and their compliance with Semiconductor Industry requirements for the next 15 years.

Within this tutorial, we will first provide an overview of state-of-the-art devices based on 2D materials, ranging from digital (high-performance and low-power devices), to analog (i.e., radio frequency applications) as well as opto-electronics applications. We will then discuss the physical models suitable to describe the electrical behavior of 2D-devices (e.g., classical and quantum transport models), which will be then exploited in order to provide performance projections. Finally, we will propose some simple simulations to be run by means of the open-source NanoTCAD ViDES code.

Nanotechnology has potentials for epochal developments in various areas of science and technology. In particular, novel nano-materials, quantum devices, and nano-scale technologies are leading to fundamental changes in electronics, due to their new and intriguing properties. RF Nanoelectronics represents an emerging branch of nanotechnology, aimed at bridging the gap between the nanosciences and a new generation of multifunctional devices, circuits, and systems, for a broad range of applications and operating frequencies, up to the optical region. The lectures presents an overview of some of the main research fields of RF nanoelectronics, by i) introducing new 1D-1D nanoscale materials, ii) exploring their physics and theoretical foundations, iii) presenting novel device concepts and unprecedented applications. A particular focus is also devoted to the iv) investigation of the combined quantum transport and electrodynamics phenomena and the development of advanced computational techniques aimed a bridging from atomistic (discrete) to device (continuum) level.

This talk will set the stage for understanding and appreciating the latest advances and central challenges in photovoltaics research. Over the long term, nanotechnology is expected to enable improvements throughout the energy sector, but the most striking near- to mid-term opportunities may be in lower-cost, higher-efficiency conversion of sunlight to electric power. Nanostructures in solar cells have multiple approaches by which they can improve photovoltaic performance: (1) New physical approaches in order to reach thermodynamic limits; (2) Allow solar cells to more closely approximate their material-dependent thermodynamic limits; and (3) Provide new routes for low-cost fabrication by self-assembly or design of new materials. We focus primarily on the first two approaches which have the goal of increasing efficiency. Several different approaches will be described that circumvent long-held physical assumptions and lead beyond first- and second-generation solar cell technologies. Special emphasis will be on a novel nanostructure-based devices based on advanced concepts such as hot carrier cells, intermediate band and multi-exciton generation, which have the theoretical basis to realize high efficiency energy conversion. We also discuss the role nanotechnology in improving light trapping and the light collection properties of solar cells. We also focus on the effects that surfaces and interfaces play in nanostructured solar cells, and how to reduce parasitic carrier recombination effects through passivation.

If you had access to interactive modeling and simulation tools that run in any browser, could you introduce interactive learning into your classes? If you had easy access tools, which need no installation, could you use them to help guide your experiments? If you did not have to worry about compute cycles, would you benchmark your own tools against other state-of-the-art approaches? If you had your own tools and could easily share them with the community, would you do it?

This short course will provide an overview of these processes and their impact as they are supported on nanoHUB.org today. If you have never been on nanoHUB.org, learn how it might help you; if you have used it, learn about new and upcoming features and share your story with the nanoHUB team and other participants.

Annually, nanoHUB provides a library of 4,600+ learning resources to 330,000+ users worldwide. Its 360+ simulation tools, free from the limitations of running software locally, are used in the cloud by over 12,000 annually. Its impact is demonstrated by 1,200+ citations to nanoHUB in the scientific literature with over 17,600 secondary citations, yielding an h-index of 62, and by a median time from publication of a research simulation program to classroom use of less than 6 months. Cumulatively, over 24,600 students in over 1,260 formal classes in over 185 institutions have used 210 nanoHUB simulation tools.

nanoHUB.org is a virtual nanotechnology user facility funded by the National Science Foundation and supports the National Nanotechnology Initiative with a highly successful cyber-infrastructure. nanoHUB.org has been supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation since 2002 to serve the nanotechnology community.

Figure 1. (a) annual nanoHUB user map superposed on NASA’s world at night. Red circles designate users viewing lectures, tutorials, or homework assignments. Yellow dots are users of simulation. Green dots indicate authors of over 1,200 scientific publications citing nanoHUB. Dot size corresponds to the number of users, and lines show author-to-author connections proving intense research collaboration networks. (b) U.S. enlarged. (c) a collage of typical nanoHUB interactive tool sessions and 3D-rendered interactively explorable results (quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, nanowires).

The living systems are composed of surfaces that depict textured architectures. Many such textures are known to influence pathophysiologic and physiological events. Nanotechnology provides exquisite control to make texture device surfaces at micro and nanoscale. These surfaces can easily biomimick living conditions to attract tumor cells much better than plain surfaces. There is interesting physics at nanoscale when cells interact with these surfaces. This tutorial will focus on the physical, biophysical and device level aspects of such textured microfluidic substrates.

In this three-hours hands-on tutorial you will perform atomic-scale simulations for various systems relevant for nanotechnology, namely nanotubes, MoS2 monolayer, and 2D tunnel field effect transistors. In particular, you will learn the basics for the use of the graphical user interface, Virtual Nanolab (VNL), in conjunction with the simulation code Atomistic Toolkit (ATK).
Thanks to the powerful GUI and the availability of many atomic-scale methods ranging from Density Functional Theory (DFT) to tight binding and classical potentials you will be able to complete all the analysis described below starting from scratch.

During the tutorial the complete VNL and ATK suite with an extended trial license will be provided and you will be guided through the following steps:

• install and configure the software in just few clicks
• create and modify your nano-structures
• run your simulations to investigate: electronic properties such as band structures and band gaps, electronic transport properties, phonons and thermal properties such as vibrational modes and thermal coefficients of 1D and 2D systems
• analyze and plot your results

So, remember to bring your laptop, whether it is running a GNU/Linux or a Windows operating system!

QuantumWise (www.quantumwise.com) specializes in advanced solutions for atomic-scale modeling of nanostructures, and the primary aim is to commercialize the most advanced simulation techniques within atomic-scale modeling, in order to enable their usage in a commercial setting.
This requires knowledge not only of the methods, but also an insight into how such tools are used when companies attempt to extract commercial gain from novel technologies such as nanotechnology.
QuantumWise thus positions itself as a facilitator, by interacting with the research community via e.g. EU framework programmes on the one hand, to extract state-of-the-art methods and techniques, and companies that seek to utilize these tools on the other, and strive to package these advanced numerical tools in an easy-to-use package.