PHOENIX, Ariz., Oct. 25, 2006 -- The deadline for abstract submissions to the Nano and Giga Challenges in Electronics and Photonics (NGC2007) conference, to be held March 12-16 at Arizona State University in Tempe, has been extended to Nov. 1.

Scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs working in the field of nanotechnology will gather at the event, which is expected to draw about 500 global participants. Two Nobel Prize winners in science will be among more than 70 invited speakers: John Polanyi, a professor at the University of Toronto, won a Nobel Prize in 1986 for research in chemistry. Physicist Nicolaas Bloembergen won the prize in 1981 for work in laser spectroscopy. He is a professor emeritus at Harvard University and a visiting professor at the Arizona Center for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Arizona. They will join colleagues from academia, industry and government to explore ways to apply "nano," or molecular (small-scale), devices to meet "giga" (gigantic) scientific and technological challenges.

Organizers of the conference said they expect about 500 participants and guests from 40-plus countries to participate. In addition to the technical program, NGC2007 will feature tutorial lectures, hands-on training sessions in nanoelectronic materials and device characterization, business sessions, and an exhibition focusing on innovative products and seed technologies.

"This conference will provide a rare forum that brings the scientists together with the entrepreneurs to examine ideas for how to take nanotechnology research and employ it for successful commercial ventures," said Herb Finkelstein, an industrial and government research liaison with ASU's school of engineering.

NGC2007 will focus on efforts to spark advances in nanoscale electronic and optoelectronic devices, high-performance integrated circuits, sensor technology and molecular electronics and bioelectronics -- progress that is crucial to meeting growing demand from industry, government and consumers for improved technologies, the organizers said.

"Nanotechnology is emerging as a major enabling solution for many of the world's technological problems," said Herb Goronkin, president of Phoenix-based Technology Acceleration Associates and chair of the conference advisory board. "It touches on numerous areas of current research by providing unique solutions to the design, fabrication and performance of products that could not previously be manufactured."

Academic and industrial researchers are being invited to the conference to present research papers on work to merge microelectronics, nanoelectronics and photonics in such areas as atomic-scale materials design; theory and experiment, molecular electronics and photonics; bioelectronics and biophotonics; high-frequency electronics; fabrication of nanodevices; magnetic materials and spintronics; materials and processes for integrated and subwave optoelectronics; nanoCMOS; new materials for field-effect transistors (FETs) and other devices; nanoelectronics system architecture; nano optics and lasers; nonsilicon materials and devices; and quantum effects in devices.

ASU is joined as organizer and head sponsor by Anatoli Korkin, president of Gilbert, Ariz.-based Nano and Giga Solutions, which provides consulting services in computational nanotechnology. Korkin, a former senior scientist in Motorola's research and development division, was a lead organizer for Nano Giga Challenges conferences in Moscow in 2002 and Krakow, Poland, in 2004.

Stephen Goodnick, ASU's associate vice president of research, said NGC2007 has already has attracted local and international sponsorship from Tempe, the Office of Naval Research, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Quarles & Brady LLP, STMicroelectronics, Motorola, the Salt River Project utility company, the Arizona Technology Council and the Wernher von Braun Center for Advanced Research in Brazil.

The conference proceedings and other materials will be published by the Springer, Elsevier and Lithotech companies.

For more information, contact Jody Seeling at (480) 965-9572; e.mail: [email protected] or visit: www.AtomicScaleDesign.Net/ngc200

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