System Bits: May 13


Bringing hyperbolic metamaterials closer to reality Purdue Researchers have taken a step toward practical applications for hyperbolic metamaterials, which are ultra-thin crystalline films that could bring optical advances for microscopes, quantum computers and high-performance solar cells. Optical metamaterials harness clouds of electrons called surface plasmons to manipulate and control li... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: April 29


Lithium-free flexible battery A Rice University laboratory has flexible, portable and wearable electronics in its sights with the creation of a thin film for energy storage. The researchers have developed a flexible material with nanoporous nickel-fluoride electrodes layered around a solid electrolyte to deliver battery-like supercapacitor performance that combines the best qualities of a h... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: March 11


Plasmonic lab-on-a-chip For some time, lab-on-a-chip (LOC) systems have generated interest in the medical field. LOC systems provide analysis of biomolecules for use in basic biology research, disease marker identification and pharmaceutical drug screening. In one effort, Boston University, the California Institute of Technology, EPFL, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru and UCLA have ... » read more

System Bits: Feb. 11


Ballistic transport in graphene Using electrons more like photons could provide the foundation for a new type of electronic device that would capitalize on the ability of graphene to carry electrons with almost no resistance even at room temperature in a process known as ballistic transport, according to researchers at Georgia Tech. Ballistic transport is the process by which electrical res... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Feb. 4


Lead halide perovskites Paving the way to the design of photovoltaic converters with improved efficiency, researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) said they have uncovered the mechanism by which solar cells based on lead iodide perovskite light-absorbing semiconductor transfer electrons along their surface. Photovoltaic systems based on lead halide perovskite are a n... » read more

Tunnel FETs Emerge In Scaling Race


Traditional CMOS scaling will continue for the foreseeable future, possibly to the 5nm node and perhaps beyond, according to many chipmakers. In fact, chipmakers already are plotting out a path toward the 5nm node, but needless to say, the industry faces a multitude of challenges along the road. Presently, the leading transistor candidates for 5nm are the usual suspects—III-V finFETs; gate... » read more

System Bits: Oct. 22


Untangled nanotubes Carbon nanotubes are lightweight, strong and conduct electricity, which make them ideal components in new electronics devices, such as tablet computers and touchscreen phones, but cannot be used without being separated out from their natural tangled state. Researchers from Imperial College London have developed a way to unravel and apply carbon nanotubes in the laboratory a... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 15


Perfect ICs Are integrated circuits "too good" for current technological applications? Christian Enz, the new director of the Institute of Microengineering at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) believes perfection is overrated. Enz said the reason why we should build our future devices with unreliable circuits, and adopt the "good enough engineering" trend is that non-fully r... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Aug. 13


Crawling And Climbing Robots The field of autonomous robotics is generating interest, as these systems can explore areas and perform functions that are risky and inaccessible to humans. The University of California at San Diego and EPFL separately have developed new autonomous robots for a range of applications. For example, UC San Diego has developed a robot designed to scoot along utility... » read more

Efficiency Vs. Accuracy


By Barry Pangrle If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I wrote an article, Power vs. Accuracy, last year that discussed tradeoffs between power and accuracy for different applications. It turns out that for a number of processing applications, if every bit isn’t perfect, the impact on the final result might not be all that great. Anyone performing financial analytical... » read more

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