Within the framework of the ANR P2N project "Quasanova", this team has developed an "out-of-equilibrium Green's function" code allowing the quantum simulation of next-generation transistors, and has ported it to graphics cards ("GPU"). Graphics cards - usually used to manage the display on microcomputers - are also proving to be powerful computational aids that can accelerate simulations by a factor of 15 to 20, opening up new perspectives for micro- and nano-electronics modeling. Indeed, the characteristic dimensions of transistors are constantly decreasing and should reach ~10 nanometers by 2020. At this scale, transistors show properties characteristic of the "quantum" mechanics that govern the infinitely small. The development of suitable simulation tools, capable of accounting for this complex physics, has therefore become a real challenge for nanotechnologies. They must allow us to understand, design and optimize the next generations of devices. 

One of these tools, developed within the ANR Quasanova, has been awarded this prize for its performance on GENCI's massively parallel computers.