Manufacturing Bits: July 21


Graphene metrology Harvard University, Monash University and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a new technique that provides atomic-scale images of colloidal nanoparticles. The technique, dubbed SINGLE, stands for 3D Structure Identification of Nanoparticles by Graphene Liquid Cell Electron Microscopy. Using the technology, researchers ha... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: July 14


Photo-doping semiconductors Scientists at Michigan State University found that by shooting an ultrafast laser pulse into a semiconducting material, its properties would change as if it had been chemically doped, in a process known as photo-doping. "The material we studied is an unconventional semiconductor made of alternating atomically thin layers of metals and insulators," said Chong-Yu... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: July 14


Exploring the proton It took 23 years to conduct the experiments, but physicists have finally provided detailed results about the proton. The Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) organization conducted the experiments within its particle accelerator from 1992 to 2007. The experiments took place in DESY’s Hadron Electron Ring Accelerator (HERA), an electron-proton collider. Then, ove... » read more

System Bits: July 7


Faster lasers for better memory To visualize in four dimensions the changing atomic configurations of materials undergoing phase changes — which happens when data is recorded on DVDs and Blu-ray disks — Caltech researchers have adopted a novel technique called ultrafast electron crystallography (UEC) that uses ultrafast laser pulses that speed up the data recording process. Interestingl... » read more

System Bits: June 30


Implantable drug-delivery chip An implantable, microchip-based device developed by MIT spinout Microchips Biotech may soon replace the injections and pills now needed to treat chronic diseases. The company partnered with Teva Pharmaceutical to commercialize its wirelessly controlled, implantable, microchip-based devices that store and release drugs inside the body over many years. [caption id... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: June 16


Lighting up graphene A team of scientists from Columbia University, Seoul National University, and Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science demonstrated an on-chip visible light source using graphene as a filament. They attached small strips of graphene to metal electrodes, suspended the strips above the substrate, and passed a current through the filaments to cause them to heat up.... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: June 2


Printing RF antennas with graphene ink Researchers from the University of Manchester, together with BGT Materials Limited, a graphene manufacturer in the United Kingdom, printed a radio frequency antenna using compressed graphene ink. The antenna performed well enough to make it practical for use in RFID tags and wireless sensors, the researchers said. Even better, the antenna is flexible, e... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: May 26


Woven fabric electrodes An international team including scientists from the University of Exeter pioneered a new technique to embed transparent, flexible graphene electrodes into fibers commonly associated with the textile industry. Exeter Professor Monica Craciun, co-author of the research said: "This is a pivotal point in the future of wearable electronic devices. The potential has been... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: April 28


Printing graphene aerogels Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have made graphene aerogel microlattices with an engineered architecture via a 3D printing technique known as direct ink writing, potentially leading to better energy storage, sensors, and nanoelectronics. Aerogel is a synthetic porous, ultralight material derived from a gel, in which the liquid component of the... » read more

New Patterning Paradigm?


Chip scaling is becoming more difficult at each process node, but the industry continues to find new and innovative ways to solve the problems at every turn. And so chipmakers continue to march down the various process nodes. But the question is for how much longer? In fact, at 16nm/14nm and beyond, chipmakers are finding new and different challenges, which, in turn, could slow IC scaling or br... » read more

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