Periodic Reporting for period 1 - POLLOC (Polariton logic)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2020-10-01 al 2021-09-30
All-optical photonic approach to boost computational processing speed and energy efficiency
In 1965, Gordon Moore predicted that the number of transistors on a chip would double every year to reach 65 000 by 1975. When that remarkable prediction proved true, he revised the doubling rate to every two years, and that became known as Moore's Law. Almost 50 years after Moore's seminal prediction, traditional chip architectures are reaching their technological, practical and economical limits. The PoLLoC project is exploiting an all-optical approach that takes us beyond current transistor technology. By replacing electrons with photons, optical transistors and all-optical logic gates are envisaged that could bypass the fundamental limitations of the current electronic transistors. Moreover, these novel devices offer processing at the speed of light to achieve energy-efficient massive processing required for tomorrow’s high-efficiency and high-power computing platforms.
PoLLoC targets to build a radically new technology platform for polariton digital logic circuits able to operate at the quantum limit level.
Within PoLLoC we will validate this new technology with respect to the key parameters power, energy-efficiency, size, frequency, and cost. As quantitative performance targets to be achieved we aim for the following figures of merit:
• Optimized perovskite compounds with enhanced interaction strength
• Single digital logic gates with less than 100 attojoule switching energy
• High speed operation time on the sub-picosecond range
• Circuit with at least 3 digital gates
In 1965, Gordon Moore predicted that the number of transistors on a chip would double every year to reach 65 000 by 1975. When that remarkable prediction proved true, he revised the doubling rate to every two years, and that became known as Moore's Law. Almost 50 years after Moore's seminal prediction, traditional chip architectures are reaching their technological, practical and economical limits. The PoLLoC project is exploiting an all-optical approach that takes us beyond current transistor technology. By replacing electrons with photons, optical transistors and all-optical logic gates are envisaged that could bypass the fundamental limitations of the current electronic transistors. Moreover, these novel devices offer processing at the speed of light to achieve energy-efficient massive processing required for tomorrow’s high-efficiency and high-power computing platforms.
PoLLoC targets to build a radically new technology platform for polariton digital logic circuits able to operate at the quantum limit level.
Within PoLLoC we will validate this new technology with respect to the key parameters power, energy-efficiency, size, frequency, and cost. As quantitative performance targets to be achieved we aim for the following figures of merit:
• Optimized perovskite compounds with enhanced interaction strength
• Single digital logic gates with less than 100 attojoule switching energy
• High speed operation time on the sub-picosecond range
• Circuit with at least 3 digital gates
On the one hand side,we focused on the synthesis of several perovskite compounds and succeeded in the development of quantum nanomaterials which exhibit the desired absorption profile and highphotoluminescence quantum yield, pivotal for strong-coupling applications.
Optical investigations at the ensemble and single particle/photon level, aided by theoretical modelling, shed light on the intrinsic optical properties of excitons and trions in these new compounds. The obtained results represent a solid starting point to reach the ambitious target goals in PoLLoC.
To incorporate the novel perovskite compounds into the fabrication process we have on the other hand, investigated a proper encapsulation technique to prevent degradation of the perovskite compounds due to parasitic processes e.g. chemical modification, moisture, generation of defects to name a few.
Furthermore, we started developing a process for the deterministic placement of the perovskite compounds into our nanophotonic device structures as well as developing a silicon photonic fabrication process to ensure the optimal fabrication of our high-contrast-grating resonator structures.
Fabricated structures have been tested with a well known model material (ladder-type polymer MeLPPP) to check the work performance. By optimizing the optical properties of our polariton transistor we obtained experimental evidence of a single-photon-nonlinearity.
Optical investigations at the ensemble and single particle/photon level, aided by theoretical modelling, shed light on the intrinsic optical properties of excitons and trions in these new compounds. The obtained results represent a solid starting point to reach the ambitious target goals in PoLLoC.
To incorporate the novel perovskite compounds into the fabrication process we have on the other hand, investigated a proper encapsulation technique to prevent degradation of the perovskite compounds due to parasitic processes e.g. chemical modification, moisture, generation of defects to name a few.
Furthermore, we started developing a process for the deterministic placement of the perovskite compounds into our nanophotonic device structures as well as developing a silicon photonic fabrication process to ensure the optimal fabrication of our high-contrast-grating resonator structures.
Fabricated structures have been tested with a well known model material (ladder-type polymer MeLPPP) to check the work performance. By optimizing the optical properties of our polariton transistor we obtained experimental evidence of a single-photon-nonlinearity.
Electronic transistors are the fundamental building blocks of all our information technology, employed in virtually any digital electronic device. Much of the progress of the past decades is directly related to the ability of making transistors increasingly smaller, faster and cheaper.
This miniaturization trend is now however reaching its technological and economical limits, giving rise to the pressing quest for new approaches for processing information in a faster and more energy-efficient way.
For energy-efficient computation beyond the current CMOS paradigm, tweaking the current nanoelectronics roadmap will be neither enough nor sustainable, but requires to completely rethink transistor devices and circuits. PoLLoC aims at developing ultra-fast and energy efficient all-optical transistors and logic gates based on exciton-polariton condensates.
By leveraging recent breakthroughs in material science especially in perovskite nanomaterials and room-temperature exciton-polariton devices we already demonstrated that now the time has come to take this beyond the scientific publication level.
In the digital processing domain, we aim for optically programmable, cascadable logic gates with less than 100 attojoule switching energy and sub-picosecond switching speed about 1000 times faster than standard processor clock speeds.
This miniaturization trend is now however reaching its technological and economical limits, giving rise to the pressing quest for new approaches for processing information in a faster and more energy-efficient way.
For energy-efficient computation beyond the current CMOS paradigm, tweaking the current nanoelectronics roadmap will be neither enough nor sustainable, but requires to completely rethink transistor devices and circuits. PoLLoC aims at developing ultra-fast and energy efficient all-optical transistors and logic gates based on exciton-polariton condensates.
By leveraging recent breakthroughs in material science especially in perovskite nanomaterials and room-temperature exciton-polariton devices we already demonstrated that now the time has come to take this beyond the scientific publication level.
In the digital processing domain, we aim for optically programmable, cascadable logic gates with less than 100 attojoule switching energy and sub-picosecond switching speed about 1000 times faster than standard processor clock speeds.