Apr. 30, 2007 — The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has completed its Nanoelectronics Standards Roadmap, which establishes a framework for creating standards to help industry transition electronic applications based on nanotechnology from the laboratory to commercial use. The document is posted on the IEEE web site, and the association invites input from interested parties by e-mail. Deadline for comment is June 21, 2007.
The roadmap recommends the initiation of five nanoelectronic standards this year: three for nanomaterials involving conductive interconnects, organic sensor structures, and nano-dispersions; and two for nanodevices involving nanoscale sensors and nanoscale emitting devices. In addition, it targets the start of seven nanomaterial standards and five nano-device standards in 2008.
The IEEE Nanoelectronic Standards Roadmapping Initiative, which began in early 2003, is co-chaired by Evelyn Hirt of Battelle and John Tucker of Keithley Instruments. Its members come from industry, government and academia and from many nations. The roadmap focuses on standards for nanomaterials and devices that promise to yield the highest value in the near-term. It also anticipates standards likely to be needed at higher levels of integration for functional blocks and applications.
“The standards identified in the roadmap are intended to foster industry’s growth by enabling researchers to build on each other’s findings, harmonize best practices, and support manufacturers across the value chain from materials, processing and test equipment to subsystems and systems,” says Edward Rashba, Director, New Business Ventures.
“If the industry concurs with the choice of the five nanoelectronic standards the roadmap targets to start in 2007, we’ll begin work on them this summer or fall,” says Rashba. “These standards will build on the nanoelectronic standards efforts already underway or completed at the IEEE.”
In addition to email feedback, the IEEE plans to gather commentary via a “town-hall”-style meeting on May 22 at the NSTI Nanotech 2007 Conference in Santa Clara, Calif.
One nanoelectronics standard, IEEE 1650, “Standard Test Methods for Measurement of Electrical Properties of Carbon Nanotubes”, has already been completed. This document, the first of its kind, provides a common template for generating reproducible electrical data on nanotubes. The IEEE says that organizations worldwide have aligned their characterization methods with it.
A second standard, IEEE P1690, “Standard Methods for Characterization of Carbon Nanotubes Used as Additives in Bulk Materials” is underway.