About Microelectronics

Leading the way in energy-efficient microelectronics and their competitive manufacturing

Microelectronics is now at a crossroads. The size of the basic building block, transistors, is approaching that of atoms, and the laws of quantum mechanics are coming into effect. For continued exponential growth, we must now look for solutions other than the miniaturization of the transistor. We must also look for solutions beyond the classical computer architecture of a processing unit combined with memory.

Microelectronics at Argonne links fundamental science with manufacturing science, guided by our capabilities in computing, materials characterization, distributed sensor platforms, and non-destructive nanoscale chip imaging. Our mission is to overcome the challenges of a resilient domestic supply chain for producing critical microelectronics materials, and make significant strides in improved energy efficiency for next generation devices, and explore the frontier of microelectronics for extreme environments, all of which promotes national competitiveness and security. To do this, we are building on our current expertise, which spans the co-design framework, starting with new materials, chemistries, and phenomena and continuing through devices, higher-level micro-electronics systems, algorithms, and programming paradigms to applications. Our success will help revitalize the U.S. microelectronics industry and reduce dependence on overseas supply chains.

Microelectronics at Argonne has three elements:

Discovery science in microelectronics for energy-efficient AI and computing, with reduced use of critical materials
New approaches to semiconductor manufacturing, spanning chemistry, materials, fabrication and packaging for more efficient and resilient microelectronics
AI-enabled innovation across the microelectronics stack, from metrology to chip design, to support co-design across materials, devices and architectures

Our research in innovative microelectronics and architectures will focus on scientific approaches to edge computing systems that are of interest as emergent technologies and on energy-efficient architectures based on novel phenomena, for example, for neuromorphic computing. We will build on current research at Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source to contribute to advances in cybersecurity and in trustworthy microelectronics and architectures. We will use AI for autonomous discovery to characterize materials and microelectronics behavior and to develop algorithms that can drive discovery lower down the co-design framework. We will use the Advanced Photon Source and the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne for synthesis, patterning, and advanced characterization. The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility will be critical not only for analyzing experimental data but also determining how much energy a novel microelectronic system uses to do a single AI compute, a determination that is a leadership-computing class problem.

To create new manufacturing approaches, we are working toward novel 3D integration of dissimilar materials with a focus on understanding electron and thermal transport across interfaces. We also develop new advanced patterning strategies based on our ability to control surface chemistry with atomic precision. Our supply-chain modeling can inform our exploration of alternative approaches to avoid critical materials for microelectronic components, and we are using our expertise in AI approaches to create digital twins that can guide efficient manufacturing processes.

Argonne also develops new AI methods to accelerate innovation in microelectronics across the stack. Examples include autonomous discovery tools for the exploration of novel materials, AI agents that work with semiconductor processing tools such as atomic layer deposition, and novel application/hardware/software codesign methodologies. Argonne also develops new AI models targeting key microelectronic challenges, including connecting materials defects with device properties, predicting the transfer of new processes from lab to fab, and predicting device failure under extreme environments. Finally, we also develop benchmarks to help us understand the capabilities and limitations of state of the art AI models when applied to research challenges in the area of microelectronics. These efforts leverage unique synthesis, computational and AI expertise and capabilities across the lab, such as the ALCF.

We are pursuing this research in collaboration with regional partners, with a focus on workforce development. Argonne has established the Argonne Microelectronics Institute focused on energy-efficient microelectronics research that is aimed at bringing together national laboratories, universities, and industry.