Manufacturing Bits: Sept. 3


Dancing With The Stars In telescopes, the ability to see distant stars and galaxies is driven by the light-gathering area and detectors in the system. In the last 50 years, the collecting area in large-scale telescopes has increased by only a factor of four, according to researchers from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Meanwhile, the sensitivity of CCD detectors has increased... » read more

System Bits: Sept. 3


Maintaining an unstable quantum system In an experiment that could have implications for quantum computers and quantum simulators, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have demonstrated a way to maintain an unstable quantum system by applying bursts of microwave radiation – a quantum analog to vibrating the inverted pendulum. While a simple pendulum has two equilibrium point... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Sept. 3


Flexible, organic solar cells Work by a team of chemical engineers at Penn State and Rice University may lead to a new class of inexpensive organic solar cells. If solar cells could be made as easily as posters or newspapers are printed, sheets of organic solar cells could be made, representing a fundamental shift in the way solar cells are made, the researchers said. Today, most solar c... » read more

The Week In Review: Aug. 30


By Ann Steffora Mutschler Continuing its drive towards enabling the Internet of Things (IoT), Renesas recently licensed a third Tensilica core from Cadence, this time the ConnX D2 DSP, which has acceleration packages optimized for IoT wired and wireless modem standards. Renesas previously licensed the Tensilica HiFi Audio DSP and ConnX BBE16 cores. In another deal for Cadence, Mellanox Tech... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Aug. 27


Growing tubes Single-wall carbon nanotubes could one day be used in electronics, optoelectronics, biomedical imaging and other applications. But the synthesis of nanotubes with defined chiralities has been a stumbling block. A chiral molecule is a molecule that has a non-superposable mirror image. The University of Southern California has shown that chirality-pure short nanotubes can be use... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Aug. 27


Möbius strip ties liquid crystal in knots By tying knots in liquid crystals using a miniature Möbius strip made from silica particles, University of Warwick researchers hope to understand how their intricate configurations and unique properties can be harnessed in the next generation of advanced materials and photonic devices. Given that liquid crystal is an essential material in modern l... » read more

System Bits: Aug. 27


Material that conducts and insulates It is well known to scientists that the three common phases of water – ice, liquid and vapor – can exist stably together only at a particular temperature and pressure, called the triple point. Also well known is that the solid form of many materials can have numerous phases, but it is difficult to pinpoint the temperature and pressure for the points at ... » read more

The Week In Review: Aug. 26


By Mark LaPedus The evolving relationship between humans and machines is the key theme of Gartner’s most "hyped” technologies in 2013. Gartner has chosen to feature the relationship between humans and machines due to the increased hype around smart machines, cognitive computing and the Internet of Things. Gartner also released its updated chart of hyped technologies. SunEdison, formerly... » read more

The Week In Review: Aug. 23


By Ed Sperling Cadence won a deal with Realtek, which licensed the Tensilica HiFi audio DSP core for voice recognition technology. Fast voice triggers have been possible for some time, but being able to combine that with low power for mobile devices isn’t easy because the devices are always on—or at least enough “on” to pick up voice commands. Mentor Graphics turned in a record-bre... » read more

Blog Review: Aug. 21


By Ed Sperling Mentor’s Michael Ford recalls the worst meetings in the world—ones that involve materials in the manufacturing process. Unfortunately there were a lot of them, so they were more like working in a recurring nightmare. Paging Freddie Krueger. Synopsys’ Karen Bartleson talks with Angisys CEO Anupam Bakshi about why EDA companies need to collaborate, and what’s the risk ... » read more

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