Eric Pop: What are 2D Materials Good For?

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Topic: 
Eric Pop: What are 2D Materials Good For?
Monday, April 26, 2021 - 2:00pm to 3:00pm
Venue: 
CarbOnlineHagen 2021
Speaker: 
Prof. Eric Pop - Electrical Engineering - Stanford University
Abstract / Description: 

This talk will present an electrical engineer’s (biased) perspective for what 2D materials could be good for. For example, they may be good for applications where their ultrathin nature and lack of dangling bonds give them distinct advantages, such as flexible electronics [1] or DNA-sorting nanopores [2]. They may not be good for applications where conventional materials work well, like in transistors thicker than a few nanometers. I will focus on the case of 2D materials for 3D heterogeneous integration of electronics, which presents significant advantages for energy-efficient computing [3]. In this context, 2D materials could be monolayer transistors with ultralow leakage [4] (taking advantage of larger band gaps than silicon), and they could play a role in high-density data storage [5]. For example, recent results from our group have shown monolayer transistors with record performance [6,7], which cannot be achieved with sub-nanometer thin conventional semiconductors. I will also describe some less conventional applications, using 2D materials as highly efficient thermal insulators [8] and as thermal transistors [9]. These could enable control of heat in “thermal circuits” analogous with electrical circuits. Combined, these studies reveal fundamental limits and some unusual applications of 2D materials, which take advantage of their unique properties.

[1] A. Daus et al., arXiv:2009.04056 (2020)
[2] J. Shim et al. Nanoscale 9, 14836 (2017)
[3] M. Aly et al., Computer 48, 24 (2015)
[4] C. Bailey et al., EMC (2019)
[5] C. Neumann et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 114, 082103 (2019)
[6] C. English et al., IEDM, Dec 2016
[7] C. McClellan et al. ACS Nano 15, 1587 (2021)
[8] S. Vaziri et al., Science Adv. 5, eaax1325 (2019)
[9] A. Sood et al. Nature Comm. 9, 4510 (2018).

Bio: 

Eric Pop is a Professor of Electrical Engineering (EE) and Materials Science & Engineering (by courtesy) at Stanford. He was previously on the faculty of UIUC (2007-13) and worked at Intel (2005-07). His research interests are at the intersection of electronics, nanomaterials, and energy. He received his PhD in EE from Stanford and three degrees from MIT (MEng and BS in EE, BS in Physics). His honors include the Presidential Early Career Award (PECASE), Young Investigator Awards from the Navy, Air Force, NSF and DARPA, and several best paper and best poster awards with his students. In 2018, he was named one of the world’s Highly Cited Researchers by Web of Science. He is an Editor of 2D Materials, has served as General Chair of the Device Research Conference, and on program committees of VLSI, IEDM, APS, and MRS conferences. In his spare time he tries to avoid injuries while snowboarding and in a past life he was a DJ at KZSU 90.1 FM, from 2000-04. Additional information about the Pop Lab is available online at http://poplab.stanford.edu.