Manufacturing Bits: Jan. 20


Batman chips The demand for faster and higher-density storage has prompted researchers to look for ways to control the magnetic states of tiny magnets. Seeking to improve the magnetic recording speeds and spatial resolutions in structures, Radboud University and others attempted to switch the magnetization in microstructures by using a femtosecond laser pulse. The laser light did not switch... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 20


Boosting silicon solar cells According to Stanford researchers, stacking crystalline perovskites onto a conventional silicon solar cell dramatically improves the overall efficiency of the cell. The researchers reminded that silicon solar cells dominate the world market, but the power conversion efficiency of silicon photovoltaics has been stuck at 25 percent for 15 years. One inexpensive wa... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Historically, there has been a good correlation between oil prices and worldwide GDP growth, with lower prices correlating to stronger future growth. Given the current forecast for the price of oil in 2015, IC Insights expects oil prices to once again be a “tailwind” for worldwide GDP growth. Intel posted its sales and earnings for the fourth quarter. In 2015, Intel projects that its cap... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Mergers & Acquisitions Mentor Graphics bought [getentity id="22268" e_name="Flexras Technologies"] for an undisclosed sum. Flexras, based in France, makes FPGA-based prototyping tools. The company was founded in 2009. Deals Sonics won a deal with Toshiba, which is using Sonics' on-chip network technologies and services for application processors targeted at smart appliances, industrial... » read more

Blog Review: Jan. 14


Ansys' Bill Vandermark flags the top five engineering technology articles for the week, leaning heavily on CES. The 3D scanner is intriguing because of the link to 3D printing. Mentor's Robin Bornoff returns to the drawing board to design a better water heater. Unfortunately, you probably won't be able to find one of these in your local Home Depot—ever. eSilicon's Jack Harding defines w... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Jan. 13


Pop-up 3D printing Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a new “pop-up” printing technique to make 3D structures down to 100nm. The technique has advantages over today’s 3D printing, which is creating a lot of buzz, if not hype, in the market. Researchers from Northwestern and Illinois devised a printing technique that mimics the act... » read more

System Bits: Jan. 13


Quantum computational circuits MIT researchers have built an array of light detectors sensitive enough to register the arrival of photons and mounted them on a silicon optical chip, which could be critical components of quantum computing devices. They pointed out that single-photon detectors are notoriously temperamental. For example, of 100 deposited on a chip using standard manufacturing ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 13


Glass instead of crystals Since today's lithium-ion batteries are not good enough if our future energy system is to rely on electrical power, researchers around the world are continually looking to improve capacity and energy density. To this end, ETH Zurich researchers have developed a type of glass that can be used as an electrode material in lithium-ion batteries. ETH researchers discove... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


IP Cadence rolled out a fourth-generation audio/voice DSP core for 32-bit DTS-X audio/voice processing, using multi-channel object-based audio. The technology allows for more textured 3D sound, while simplifying the steps for creating sound channels. Chips NXP rolled out a one-chip solution for smart car access, which combines passive keyless entry, an RF transmitter and an immobilizer. Th... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


China’s ambitious plan in the 1990s to create numerous foundries did not come to fruition. But in 2014, the Chinese government described new semiconductor industry programs that will utilize investments by both the Chinese national government ($19.5 billion) and local government and private equity investors ($97.4 billion). “IC Insights believes that these outlays have the potential to sign... » read more

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