Electrical and Computer Engineering in the 21st Century

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Electrical and Computer Engineering in the 21st
Century
Eric W. Johnson Electrical and Computer
Engineering Valparaiso University
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ECE Career Opportunities

• Core ECE areas will continue to offer many job
  opportunities
• Power
• Communication Systems (especially wireless)
• Computer Design (and supporting tasks)
• Software Design
• Emerging areas will also begin to offer many
  opportunities
• Large System Design
• Multidisciplinary design with other engineering
  disciplines and the sciences

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Trends in ECE Design

• Smaller is better (the incredible shrinking
  transistor).
• Larger, more complex designs can be created in
  the same amount of area.
• Designs are faster!!
• Less power is better.
• Larger designs typically consume more power.
• Power consumption impacts both operation and
  power needed.

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New Areas in ECE

• Systems-on-a-Chip
• Designing and building entire systems
  (electrical, electrical/mechanical) on a single
  fabricated chip.
• Nanotechnology
• Designing and developing working systems using
  single atoms as the basic blocking blocks.

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Systems-on-a-Chip (SoC)

• Extends the current technologies to include
  entire systems on a single chip.
• Can include
• Electrical components (both digital and analog)
• Mechanical components (gears)
• Other components (sensors, actuators)
• Multidisciplinary design and development
• Hardware and software engineers
• Electrical, Computer, and Mechanical Engineers

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Typical SoC Design

• Designs are created from an existing set of
  hardware and software building blocks known as
  Intellectual Property, or IP.

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SoC Applications

• Consumer Electronics
• Cell Phones, Game Systems, PDAs, Wireless
  Networks
• Medical Industry
• Medicine Distribution, Diagnostic Devices,
  Handheld Communication, Surgery Assistance
• Automotive Industry
• Airbag Deployment, Braking Systems, GPS systems

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Nokia N-Gage

• All in one electronic device (Cell Phone, Game
  Deck, MP3 Player, Wireless Browser, Stereo FM
  Browser, PDA)
• Uses latest wireless and graphics technology.

Photo courtesy of Nokia Corporation
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Nokia Digital Pen

• Conventional pen
• Records what you write.
• Can send information to
• Cell phone
• Handheld device
• PC

Photo courtesy of Nokia Corporation
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Lab-in-a-Pill

• Swallowable pill that will perform measurements.
• Acidity
• Oxygen concentration.
• Goal pill that can diagnose all illnesses

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Micro-Electrical/Mechanical Systems (MEMS)

• Microsystems integrated onto silicon that combine
  mechanical, optical and fluidic elements with
  electronics.
• Uses current fabrication technology (CMOS, SOI)
• Two Categories
• Microsensors (sense information)
• Microactuators (respond to information with some
  action)

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MEM Gear Chain (with Dust Mite)

• Gears fabricated along with electronics on same
  chip.

Photo courtesy of Sandia Corporation
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Smart Dust

• Sensing devices that are the size of a grain of
  sand
• Applications (Weather Monitoring, Bio/Chem
  Sensing, Space Applications, Inventory Control)

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What is Nanotechnology?

• Nanotechnology involves designing, fabricating
  and applying nanometer-scale systems. (arranging
  atoms into working systems).
• Synthesis of electrical and computer engineering,
  chemistry, physics and biotech.

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Why is Nanotechnology Important?

• Continues to scale down current technologies
  (smaller is better).
• Provides the opportunity for new applications in
• Material Science (stronger fibers, replicating
  materials)
• Medical Industry (nanobots for diagonosis,
  prevention or surgery)
• High Speed Computers (new generation of
  components)

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How Small is nano?

• 1 billionth of a meter or 1 millionth of a
  millimeter.
• Diameter of a human hair 40,000 nanometers.
• 1 nanometer is approximately 10 atoms wide

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Developing Nano-devices

• Engineers and Scientists need to
• Manipulate individual atoms (scanning tunneling
  microscope).
• Develop atom assemblers that will manipulate
  atoms efficiently (trillions needed).
• Create replicators that will replicate the
  assemblers and work together with them to create
  devices.
• Researchers believe advanced nano-devices and
  products will be available in the next few
  decades, and some are available today.

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Scanning Tunneling Microscope

• Used to
• Scan and map the shape of material surface.
• Move individual atoms.
• One atom wide at the tip of the microscope.

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First Atomic Manipulation
Photo courtesy of IBM Corporation
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Quantum Corral
Photo courtesy of IBM Corporation
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NASAs Nanogears

• Part of an envisioned atomic machine that will be
  fed raw material and will arrange atoms and build
  a macro-scale structure.

Photo courtesy of NASA, Ames
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Nanocomputers

• 10,000 times faster and more dense than current
  microprocessors.
• Fraction of the power dissipation associated with
  current microprocessors.
• Modeled
• Similar to current microelectronic devices
  (Quantum-dot Cellular Automata)
• Entirely different paradigms (Quantum Wave
  Interference, DNA computing)

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Quantum Computers Basic Cell Geometry

• Each cell consists of 5 quantum dots (sites).
• Two electrons occupy each cell and can tunnel to
  any of the sites.
• Typically only two steady states exist.

• Represents a binary 0

• Represents a binary 1

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Interaction between Atoms

• Cells located next to each other have fixed
  interaction
• Electrons try to stay away from each other.
• Line Example

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Creating Logic Operations
Truth Table
Output matches the majority of 3 input cells.
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Serial Bit-Stream Analyzer
Designed and simulated by Valpo ECE students
Summer 2003.
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Courses and Research in the COE

• Undergraduate Research in Quantum Computing
  Developing digital designs and methodologies
  using quantum-dot cellular automata.
• Courses in the SoC area
• ECE342 Electronics
• ECE429 VLSI Design
• ECE490J Systems on a Chip
• ECE490M Mixed Signal Design

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Conclusions

• ECE is a very exciting profession with
  opportunities in a wide range of existing and new
  areas.
• New areas will
• increasingly need more electrical and computer
  engineers
• involve more systems design.
• link engineering more closely with the sciences.
• provide more opportunities for service-related
  careers (especially in the medical fields).

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QUESTIONS?