NEEDS: Moving nanoscience to nanotechnology

The NEEDS initiative has a mission to provide physics-based, SPICE-compatible compact models for emerging nano-devices. NEEDS is also developing a complete compact model development toolset, complemented with educational and training resources. NEEDS-developed resources are disseminated at needs.nanohub.org. The overall goal is to connect research in materials and devices to circuit and system level applications. The initiative includes teams at Purdue, U.C. Berkeley, MIT, and Stanford and is jointly funded by the National Science Foundation and the Semiconductor Research Corporation. This paper discusses the rationale for establishing NEEDS and its status and plans. It also discusses how those not in the formal program can participate.