Over the past 75 years, microelectronic devices have decreased in both size and cost at an astonishing rate. These transformative devices now appear to be at a crossroads. More innovative pathways to significant improvements are needed as further decreases in the size of their basic building blocks, transistors, do not seem possible.

Microelectronics research at Argonne has two elements:

• Innovation in energy-efficient microelectronics and architectures with reduced use of critical materials
• New approaches to energy-efficient and environment-friendly manufacturing for microelectronics

For this research, we are adopting a co-design approach that simultaneously takes into account the interdependencies among materials, devices, architectures, software, and applications. The goal is to transform the process by which we conduct microelectronics research.

Much of the science and technology that will enable advanced microelectronics devices does not exist today. Advances in basic science are needed as a foundation for microelectronics for energy-efficient scientific computing, sensor-based computing, and high-speed electronics. Argonne’s core capabilities include high performance computing, materials characterization, artificial intelligence and machine learning, distributed sensor platforms, and non-destructive nanoscale chip imaging. Our success will help revitalize the U.S. microelectronics industry and reduce dependence on overseas supply chains.