Evolutionary design for novel technologies

Evolutionary algorithms seem well suited to the design of standard cells. The cells are simple, so within the reach of contemporary evolutionary methods. Experiments have shown that if evolution is allowed to manipulate a circuit at a fine level of detail, and without prejudicial constraints, then it can produce circuits exploiting the physical medium in sophisticated and subtle ways that would be hard for a human designer to derive. It should also be possible to integrate non-behavioural requirements such as size, power consumption, or fault tolerance, into the goals of the evolutionary process (A. Thompson, 1998). The ability of evolution to find forms and processes well tailored to the medium, and to produce designs that might be counter-intuitive, surprising, or educational, could help find design styles (or cell libraries) for novel technologies. As exotic media based on quantum physics or biochemistry are proposed, it is not immediately clear how best they could be used. The author presents a simple study: the evolution of a NOR-gate in a meso/nano-scale medium based on few/single-electron effects in tunnel junctions (R.H. Chen et al., 1954-56; 1996)