Craig Lent

Research Interests

What are the ultimate limits for how small we can make computing devices? What fundamental constraints does physics impose, either in size, speed, or heat dissipation?

My group has been investigates these questions in the context of a transistor-less paradigm known as Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA), which was invented and developed here. QCA enables binary computing, which can be scaled down to the single-molecule size scale. QCA has been explored in metal-dot, GaAs, Si, nanomagnetic, and molecular systems.

Our group is theoretical, but we work closely with solid-state experimentalist, chemists, and computer scientists, examining the particular issues of each implementation, and the energetic, architectural, and thermodynamic considerations that apply to all implementations.