Scalability simulations for nanomemory systems integrated on the molecular scale.
Simulations were performed to assess the prospective performance of a 16 Kbit nanowire-based electronic nanomemory system. Commercial off-the-shelf microcomputer system modeling software was applied to evaluate the operation of an ultra-dense storage array. This array consists of demonstrated experimental non-volatile nanowire diode switches, plus encoder-decoder structures consisting of demonstrated experimental nanowire-based nanotransistors, with nanowire interconnects among all the switching devices. The results of these simulations suggest that a nanomemory of this type can be operated successfully at a density of 10(11) bits/cm(2). Furthermore, modest device alterations and system design alternatives are suggested that might improve the performance and the scalability of the nanomemory array. These simulations represent early steps toward the development of a simulation-based methodology to guide nanoelectronic system design in a manner analogous to the way such methodologies are used to guide microelectronic system design in the silicon industry.