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Information and Communication Nanotechnology

Code: 103295 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology OT 4

Contact

Name:
Xavier Cartoixa Soler
Email:
xavier.cartoixa@uab.cat

Teachers

Jorge Francisco Suñé Tarruella

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

Basic knowledge of Quantum Mechanics, electronic devices and solid state physics is required.


Objectives and Contextualisation

  • Identifying the physical limits of present day information processing technologies, and knowing the alternatives proposed from nanotechnology.
  • Knowing the foundations of the different approaches to electron transport in devices.
  • Describing the working principles of nanoelectronic, nanophotonic and spintronic devices.

Competences

  • Adapt to new situations.
  • Apply the concepts, principles, theories and fundamental facts of nanoscience and nanotechnology to solve problems of a quantitative or qualitative nature in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology.
  • Communicate clearly in English.
  • Communicate orally and in writing in one's own language.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the concepts, principles, theories and fundamental facts related with nanoscience and nanotechnology.
  • Interpret the data obtained by means of experimental measures, including the use of computer tools, identify and understand their meanings in relation to appropriate chemical, physical or biological theories.
  • Learn autonomously.
  • Manage the organisation and planning of tasks.
  • Obtain, manage, analyse, synthesise and present information, including the use of digital and computerised media.
  • Operate with a certain degree of autonomy.
  • Propose creative ideas and solutions.
  • Reason in a critical manner
  • Recognise and analyse physical, chemical and biological problems in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology and propose answers or suitable studies for their resolution, including when necessary the use of bibliographic sources.
  • Recognise the terms used in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, nanoscience and nanotechnology in the English language and use English effectively in writing and orally in all areas of work.
  • Resolve problems and make decisions.
  • Work correctly with the formulas, chemical equations and magnitudes used in chemistry.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Adapt to new situations.
  2. Apply the acquired theoretical contents to the explanation of experimental phenomena.
  3. Build simple numerical simulators and apply them to the modelling of electronic, magnetic, thermal, optical and mechanical devices on the nanometric scale.
  4. Communicate clearly in English.
  5. Communicate orally and in writing in one's own language.
  6. Correctly use specific physical and electronic simulation programs to study electronic devices.
  7. Critically evaluate experimental results and deduce their meaning.
  8. Describe the basics of the interaction between matter and light on the nanometric scale and the main nanophotonic devices.
  9. Describe the main tools and methods for the optical manipulation of nanometric objects.
  10. Describe the operation of the main nanoelectronic devices: resonant tunnel diodes, punctual contacts, quantum dots, single electron transistors and those based on nanotubes and nanophylls, spin devices...
  11. Describe the principles of molecular electronics.
  12. Describe the principles of plasmonics.
  13. Describe the socioeconomic impact of new electronic, magnetic and photonic devices in information and communication technologies.
  14. Describe the typologies of magnetic nanostructures and their properties and identify the principles of spintronics.
  15. Design basic electronic devices, establishing their relation with manufacturing technology (including materials, dimensions and doping) with their specifications on an electrical level
  16. Draft and present reports on the subject in English.
  17. Identify the physical limits of CMOS technology and describe current trends in nanoelectronics.
  18. Interpret texts in English on aspects related with the physics and chemistry of nanoscience and nanotechnology.
  19. Learn autonomously.
  20. Manage the organisation and planning of tasks.
  21. Obtain, manage, analyse, synthesise and present information, including the use of digital and computerised media.
  22. Operate with a certain degree of autonomy.
  23. Perform bibliographic searches for scientific documents.
  24. Propose and design nanoelectronic, nanomagnetic and nanophotonic devices in accordance with specifications and in consideration of technology.
  25. Propose creative ideas and solutions.
  26. Reason in a critical manner
  27. Recognise the need for multi-scale treatment in the simulation of electronic transport in devices of nanometric dimensions.
  28. Resolve problems and make decisions.
  29. Resolve problems with the help of the provided complementary bibliography.
  30. Work correctly with the formulas, chemical equations and magnitudes used in chemistry.

Content

 1.       The MOS transistor in the diffusive transport model

 Introduction to nanoelectronics. MOSFET currents. MOSFET electrostatics. Limits of the classical model.

 2.       The Landauer transport model

 Model basics. Quantized conductance. The ballistic and quasi-ballistic MOSFET.

 3.       Neuromorphic circuits with memristors

 Properties and solid-state implementations of memristors. Hardware implementation of neural networks with memristors.

 4.       Photonic and optoelectronic devices

 Isomorphism between Maxwell and Schrödinger equations. Photonic crystals, defects, waveguides and Anderson localization. Optical transitions and selection rules in semiconductors. Lasers basead in nanostructures (quantum well and dot, VCSELs, quantum cascade...). Entangled photons for quantum cryptography. Nanophotonics and the market.

 5.       Spin based nanoelectronic devices

 Dynamics of single spins and spins in solids. Spin valves and giant magnetoresistance. Hard drive read heads, circuit couplers. Spin-transfer torque. Magnetic RAM memories (MRAMs). Spin injection into semiconductors. Spin relaxation mechanisms in semiconductors. Spin transistors. Spin based quantum computing.

 


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Classroom practical sessions 10 0.4 2, 7, 5, 3, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 28, 6
Laboratory sessions 8 0.32 1, 2, 7, 4, 3, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 16, 28, 30, 6
Magistral lectures 30 1.2 5, 10, 8, 12, 11, 9, 14, 13, 17, 25, 26, 27
Type: Autonomous      
Problem set solving and lab reports 50 2 1, 2, 19, 7, 4, 5, 3, 23, 20, 18, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 16, 29, 28, 6
Study of theoretical foudations 48 1.92 1, 19, 10, 8, 12, 11, 9, 14, 13, 23, 20, 17, 18, 21, 22, 26, 27

Formation will be based on magistral lectures complemented with practical classroom and laboratory sessions. There will be autonomous activities including problem solving and the critical reading of texts.

 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Laboratory sessions 25% 0 0 1, 2, 19, 7, 4, 3, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 16, 28, 30, 6
Problem sets and independent work 20% 0 0 7, 5, 23, 20, 18, 21, 22, 26, 29, 28, 30
Synthesis test 55% 4 0.16 5, 3, 10, 8, 12, 11, 9, 14, 13, 15, 17, 26, 27, 28

The completion of the lab sessions is mandatory, and students must pass the lab sessions separately


Continuous evaluation

In order to pass the course a minimum grade of 4 in the synthesis test is required. This can be obtained:

 

a) When the mean of the synthesis partial tests reaches a 4, and none of the partial tests has a qualification below 2.

 

b) When the synthesis retake test reaches the minimum of 4.

 

The student must have sat in the two partial synthesis tests and passed the lab sessions in order to be allowed to retake the synthesis test.



Single evaluation

The students who have signed up for the single evaluation modality must take a final test that will consist of a written exam of the entire theoretical syllabus and problems of the course, and an oral test treating aspects of the theory part that are not have been covered in the written test. These tests will be carried out on the day that the continuous evaluation students take the second partial exam. The written test will determine the mark that will enter the "Synthesis Test", while the oral test will determine the mark that will enter "Problem sets and independent works".
 
If the grade of the synthesis test does not reach 4, or the final grade does not reach 5, the student has another opportunity to pass the subject through the written recovery exam that will be held on the date set by the coordination of the degree. In this test, 75% of the mark corresponding to the subject can be recovered; in other words, the grade obtained will replace that of the written and oral tests of the single evaluation. The Lab Sessions part is not recoverable.

 
"Matrícula d'honor" and grade improvement

"Matrícula d'honor" will be awarded with preferent attention to the results of the synthesis partial tests (continued ev.) / written+oral (single ev.) over the second chance synthesis test. Sitting on the second chance synthesis test to obtain a better grade is possible, but in case the grade of that test is lower than the grade of the mean of the partial tests / written + oral, the final synthesis grade will be the mean between the average of the partial test and the grade of the second chance synthesis test.

Synthesis tests may be substituted by additional problem sets and independent work if authorities determine that on site exams are not permitted.


Bibliography

S. V. Gaponenko

Introduction to Nanophotonics

Cambridge University Press (2010)

 

P.N. Prasad

Nanophotonics

Wiley (2004)

 

Y. Tsividis and C. McAndrew

Operation and Modeling of the MOS Transistor

Oxford University Press (2010)

 

S.M Sze and K.K. Ng

Physics of Semiconductor Devices

Wiley (2007)

 

J. Burghartz

Guide to State-of-the-Art Electron Devices

Wiley (2013)

 

R. Waser

Nanoelectronics and Information Technology

Wiley (2005)

 

S. Bandyopadhyay and M. Cahay

Introduction to spintronics

CRC Press (2008)

 

M. Lundstrom

Fundamentals of carrier transport

Cambridge University Press (2009)


Software

One of the labs will make use of Matlab/Octave/python.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan/Spanish first semester morning-mixed
(PLAB) Practical laboratories 1 Catalan/Spanish first semester afternoon
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan/Spanish first semester morning-mixed