The Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of BRAC University conducted a seminar on Tuesday, 2nd January, 2018, on "How nanotechnology can enable human-like features in Electronics?", in association with BRAC University Electrical and Electronic Engineering Club. The aim of the seminar was to provide a common platform to academicians and young researchers to exchange their new ideas and explore the various aspects of this emerging technology.
The Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Ansar Ahmed, Ph. D, welcomed the speaker, Dr. Asif Khan, and the audience. He encouraged the students to achieve new heights in the field of science and technology. Dr. Asif Khan is an Assistant Professor, the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Georgia Institute of Technology (GaTech), USA. Dr. Khan first discussed how new classes of nano-materials such as ferroelectrics can make our nanoelectronic devices more power efficient. He decoratively introduced the concept of a new generation nanoscale devices which can mimic the properties of neurons and synapses. He also discussed about the challenges in this field. Just like a racing car, the faster we run our microprocessor, the hotter it gets and more power it consumes! And we are not being able to make the transistors--the building blocks of our computing hardware--any more power efficient although we are making them smaller and smaller. In fact, energy efficiency in nanoscale transistors has become such a vital issue that we stopped increasing the microprocessor clock frequency beyond ~3 GHz since 2005; had we followed the trend of the speed increase like before, by now we would have had microprocessors melting instantly after turn on due to excessive heat generation. Due to the excessive power requirements, we tend to pack too much energy into the batteries of mobile electronics which has recently caused debacles like in the case of Samsung Galaxy Note 7. As such, to make transistors more energy efficient, the researchers are looking for novel nanotechnology-based solutions--such as introducing new classes of nano-materials in fabricating the transistors and taking inspirations from the inner workings of the biological brains.
Moreover, the physics of novel ferroelectric devices which can be merged with neuro-scientific principles to enable neuron and synapse-like properties was explained. After the lecture, the seminar was followed by an interactive session. Faculty members, research scholars and students from various departments attended the seminar. The seminar ended with a vote of thanks by Dr. Shahidul Islam Khan, Professor and Chairperson, EEE Department.