System Bits: Oct. 10


Fast-moving magnetic particles for data storage According to MIT researchers, an exotic kind of magnetic behavior discovered just a few years ago holds great promise as a way of storing data — one that could overcome fundamental limits that might otherwise be signaling the end of Moore’s Law. Rather than reading and writing data one bit at a time by changing the orientation of magnetize... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 10


Asphalt anode Scientists at Rice University developed an anode for lithium metal batteries enabling them to charge 10 to 20 times faster than commercial lithium-ion batteries. The anodes are a porous carbon made from asphalt mixed with conductive graphene nanoribbons and coated with composite with lithium metal through electrochemical deposition. The lab combined the anode with a sulfurized... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Oct. 3


Making buckypaper The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology has developed a process that will transform carbon nanotube powder into so-called buckypaper. Buckypaper is a thin sheet made from carbon nanotubes. They are sometimes known as multi-walled carbon nanotube sheets. Meanwhile, carbon nanotubes are tube-shaped materials, which are 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of human ... » read more

System Bits: Oct. 3


Polariton graphs In a development that a team of researchers from the UK and Russia say could eventually surpass the capabilities of even the most powerful supercomputers, a type of ‘magic dust’ — which combines light and matter — can be used to solve complex problems. Hailing from the University of Cambridge, University of Southampton and Cardiff University in the UK and the Skolk... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 3


Slowing down photonics Researchers at the University of Sydney developed a chip capable of optical data into sound waves, slowing data transfer enough to process the information. While speed is a major bonus with photonic systems, it's not as advantageous when processing data. By turning optical signals into acoustic, data can be briefly stored and managed inside the chip for processing, re... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Sept. 26


Electrical twisted yarn The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the University of Texas at Dallas and Hanyan University in South Korea have developed a twisted yarn technology that can be used to generate or harvest electrical energy. The technology, dubbed “twistron” yarn, incorporates twisted bundles of tiny coiled carbon nanotubes. The nanotube-based twistron yarn works in con... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Sept. 26


Long-range communication Researchers at the University of Washington developed devices that run on almost zero power can transmit data across distances of up to 2.8 kilometers. The long-range backscatter system, which uses reflected radio signals to transmit data at extremely low power, achieved reliable coverage throughout 4800-square-foot house, an office area covering 41 rooms and a one-acr... » read more

System Bits: Sept. 26


Spectroscopic science camera While the latest versions of most smartphones contain at least two and sometimes three built-in cameras, researchers at the University of Illinois would like to convince mobile device manufactures to add yet another image sensor as a built-in capability for health diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and general-purpose color sensing applications.   This comes... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Sept. 19


Ion implant lithography At a recent conference, the University of California at Berkeley presented more details about its efforts to develop a multiple patterning method using tilted ion implantation (TII) technology. TII is somewhat similar today’s self-aligned double patterning (SADP) processes in logic and memory. SADP and the follow-on technology, self-aligned quadruple (SAQP), enable... » read more

System Bits: Sept. 19


Novel quantum computing architecture invented University of New South Wales researchers have invented what they say is a radical new architecture for quantum computing, based on ‘flip-flop qubits,’ that promises to make the large-scale manufacture of quantum chips dramatically easier. [caption id="attachment_319384" align="alignnone" width="300"] Artist's impression of flip-flop qubit e... » read more

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