SCANNING THE ISSUE Nanoelectronics Research for Beyond CMOS Information Processing

The field of nanoelectronics and, in particular, the vision of extending complementary metalYoxideY semiconductor (CMOS) and the possibility of discovering new, highly scalable, concepts for information processing and memory functions is becoming an exciting reality. Interdisciplinary research of nanoscale structures embodied in a myriad of new materials at the atomic-scale quantum domain promises the discovery of new paradigms for information processing. Specifically, research in nanoelectronics encompasses devices and technologies in which a critical dimension [e.g., channel length and/or thickness in a metalYoxideYsemiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET)] is less than 100 nm and for which these nanoscale dimensions cause or amplify onset of new physical phenomena (e.g., quantization of channel charge in a MOSFET or the Coulomb blockade effect in a quantum dot). The invited papers in this special issue present a variety of nanostructures and related materials proposed to This Special Issue presents a variety of invited papers covering nanostructures and related materials proposed to extend CMOS scaling to its ultimate limit and enable a variety of new logic and memory devices.