Apparatus, method and system for reconfigurable circuitry

The present invention relates to reconfigurable circuitry, and more particularly to the reconfiguration of the characteristics of materials used in the formation of electronic circuitry as the result of applied external influences.

Circuitry is shrinking in such a manner that the quantum behavior is intimately tied to the way that the circuitry must be designed. It is believed that nanotechnology will enable a significant boost in performance and power consumption of circuitry. In general, electronic circuits have separated hardware topology of wires from the currents and charges that actually convey the logic of operation. However, nanoscale systems allow for the change in the way in which electronic circuits are designed. For example, it may be beneficial to reconfigure circuitry in order to optimize performance and power consumption for computing intensive applications, such as image and speech recognition or artificial intelligence.

One type of material that may be useful in the formation of reconfigurable circuitry is a single layer of graphite, known as graphene. Graphene is a monolayer of carbon atoms with a hexagonal lattice structure. Graphene is a 2D gapless semiconductor with massless “relativistic” quasiparticles. Due to its unusual band structure, graphene is a zero-gap semiconductor with a linear energy-momentum relation near the points where valence and conduction bands meet. In general, the band structure of a solid describes ranges of energy that an electron is “forbidden” or “allowed” to have. The band structure of a particular solid is due to the diffraction of electron waves in the periodic crystal lattice of the solid. A periodic lattice of atoms, the Bravais lattice, affects an electron traveling through it by scattering the electron wave. Graphene is a Bravais lattice with a 2-atom unit cell. The scattering of the electron wave makes some values of electron velocity forbidden due to the interference of the electron wave. This interference is what creates to the band structure of a material.

Carbon atoms have six electrons that occupy the 1s², 2s² and 2p² orbitals, the 1s² electrons are tightly bound and the four 2s² and 2p² valence electrons are more weakly bound. In the crystalline phase these valence electrons produce the 2s, 2p_x, 2p_y and 2p_z orbitals. Hybridization takes place between one 2s electron and two 2p electrons, which is responsible for binding the three nearest neighbor atoms in the plane. The last p_z electron makes a π-orbital perpendicular to the plane. The electron in this orbital is able to move around, both in and perpendicular to the graphene plane that makes graphene a zero gap semiconductor. Due to the unique band structure of graphene it is considered promising for device applications, such as transistors.

Accordingly, aspects of the present invention are directed at producing reconfigurable circuitry through the use of applied fields to materials whose characteristics can be changed depending upon the type of applied field.

The following presents a simplified summary of exemplary embodiments of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some exemplary aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of the invention nor delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

According to a first exemplary embodiment of the invention an apparatus is provided that may include a nanoscale material layer, and a programmable element in close proximity to at least a first section of the nanoscale material layer. The programmable element may be programmable to a first state to interfere with an electron wave in at least the first section of the nanoscale material layer in a first manner, and programmable to a second state to interfere with the electron wave in a second manner.

In accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the nanoscale material layer may include a layer of graphene.

In accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the first state or the second state of the programmable element may include a first nanoscale charge distribution.

In accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the interference from the first nanoscale charge distribution may be configured to produce a metallic state in at least the first section of the layer of graphene.

In accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the interference from the first nanoscale charge distribution may be configured to produce a semiconducting state in at least the first section of the layer of graphene.

In accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the interference from the first nanoscale charge distribution may be configured to produce an insulating state in at least the first section of the layer of graphene.

In accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the programmable element is dynamically reconfigurable from the first state to the second state.

In accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the first state or the second state may include a second nanoscale charge distribution.

In accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the first nanoscale charge distribution may be printed on the programmable element by a laser printer.

In accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the first nanoscale charge distribution may be printed on the programmable element by e-beam lithography.

In accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the semiconducting state may be n-type.

In accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the semiconducting state may be p-type.

In accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the apparatus may also include a first contact coupled to a first edge of the layer of graphene, and a second contact coupled to a second edge of the layer of graphene.

In accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the first nanoscale charge distribution may be a periodic electric charge distribution.