Atomera, a semiconductor materials and technology licensing company, is the newest member of the ESD Alliance. In welcoming Atomera to our membership, I spoke with Atomera CEO Scott Bibaud to learn more about its atomic-level technology that enhances transistors to improve performance in electronic products. We also discussed quantum-engineered materials and their impact on chip performance, recruiting and industry trends.Smith: The Atomera website highlights quantum-engineered materials. Can you elaborate on what a quantum-engineered material is and why it is different than other materials?
Bibaud: We consider a material to be quantum-engineered when it is first designed using quantum-mechanical ab initio simulations that identify the required material properties. This is in contrast to most materials in use in the semiconductor industry, which are either known in nature or developed empirically. Atomera’s MST® (Mears Silicon Technology™) is an example of a bottoms-up quantum-engineered material as are others such as ReRAM/MRAM memory elements, quantum wells/dots, and high-K metal gate (HKMG) metal stacks.
(more…)
