near Barcelona temple of technology where were they beaten objects of extreme purity. Inside, the air is extremely clean. Employees work covered in special clothes. Temperature, humidity and pressure are kept constant to protect your ‘jewelry’: hypersensitive microchips and nanodevices that will travel into space or penetrate neural connections within the brain and cells.
It is the ‘Micro and Nanofabrication White Room’ of CSIC’s Barcelona Institute for Microelectronics (IMB-CNM),”extraordinary infrastructure”, according to its director, Luis Fonseca. “Its size (1,500 square meters), versatility (silicon technologies, silicon carbide, etc.) technological flexibilityHaving the best equipment with nearly 200 teams,” he adds.
In these facilities located on the campus of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Cerdanyola del Vallès), electronic devices and systems capable of managing information or maintaining physical-digital interaction with their environment are designed and manufactured. The aim is to develop and apply innovative technologies together with other emerging micro and nanotechnologies in the field of microelectronics.
“One of the established technologies in the field semiconductors and silicon micro machiningto new ones such as photonic circuits, quantum devices, silicon nanowires, and materials with a single atomic layer (two-dimensional materials),” lists Fonseca.
“In recent years we have achieved some milestones, such as the manufacture of nanochips for the study of living cells and components adapted to the hostile conditions of missions in space, such as those currently heading to Mercury (BepiColombo) and the Sun. (Solar Orbit)temporarily created, or those orbiting the Earth It guides the satellites of the single Web constellation,” he elaborates.
Devices for recognizing the brain
IMB-CNM has the capability to design and manufacture custom hardware capable of acquiring and processing large volumes of data. “We have newly developed radiation detectors For the accelerators of the Atlas experiment, at CERN (where the institute has been collaborating for more than two decades), it allows a large number of particle detector channels to be obtained,” states Fonseca.
Devices in the Clean Room are also used to learn about the brain.. “Using multiplexing techniques, we have developed neural interfaces (within the European project BrainCom) based on graphene transistors that can increase the recording channels without increasing the number of connections,” explains the director. Integrated circuits designed at IMB-CNM have made it possible to process a large amount of information about brain activity..
Fonseca underlines that these technologies are being consolidated and have a long way to go to face current challenges, such as new designs of European processors with RISC-V architecture. Easing Europe’s technological dependency (within the Drac project).
Photonics, the big promise of the last decade As a facilitating technology with potential for applications not yet invented. Light science and technology studies the production, manipulation and detection of photons, particles that can be used as information carriers.
This technology is present in many applications related to information processing such as fiber optic telecommunications, laser printing, sensors, displays, smart lighting or photovoltaic systems.
“Just as microelectronics transformed the technological world of the 20th century, photonics is the technology best positioned to continue its work in the digital world of the 21st century”says Carlos Domínguez, IMB-CNM researcher and head of the SiN Photonics platform.
State-of-the-art infrastructure
“Photonic integrated circuits will allow for an extraordinary advance in the world. quantum computing, quantum communication and quantum sensors“, Explain.
Another important line is electronic devices working with minimum energy consumptionespecially through the application of advanced nanofabrication methods.
IMB-CNM participates in the establishment of a pilot line for the production of: quantum devices It complies with the CMOS standard in the Clean Room, which will lead to the creation of the first semiconductor qubit (qubit or quantum bit) in Spain. A qubit is the quantum analog of the classical bit, and it represents a combination of two states, leading to an exponential increase in computing power.
“The goal is for quantum devices to be both research and technological solutions To improve the performance of devices such as new device concepts and applications,” explains Francesc Pérez-Murano, a researcher at IMB-CNM.
The institute is also working on micro- and nano-machining capabilities through the fabrication of devices based on advanced materials or superconducting functionalities. Quantum applications include scalable processors and ultra-precise sensors.
“We are looking for developments based on the magnetism of nanostructured materials as a safe and energy efficient alternative to information management based on traditional electronics.”, explains Gemma Rius, IMB-CNM researcher.
On the whole, IMB’s Clean Room offers a cutting-edge infrastructure to foster the development of devices that will allow disruptive technologies to take off.such as photonics and quantum computing, which will be key in the digital society of the future.
IMB-CNM ‘White Room’ website: https://www.imb-cnm.csic.es/es/sala-blanca-de-micro-y-nanofabricacion