System Bits: Oct. 13


Quantum computing hurdle cleared Clearing what they say is the final hurdle to making silicon-based quantum computers a reality, a team of University of New South Wales researchers has built a quantum logic gate in silicon for the first time, making calculations between two qubits of information possible. Team leader Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor and Director of the Australian National ... » read more

System Bits: May 26


Microfluidic cell-squeezing MIT researchers have shown it is possible to use a microfluidic cell-squeezing device to introduce specific antigens inside the immune system’s B cells, providing a new approach to developing and implementing antigen-presenting cell vaccines. These types of vaccines are created by reprogramming a patient’s own immune cells to fight invaders, and are believed ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 6


3D nanoshaping A team of researchers led by Purdue University report they’ve developed a method for creating large-area patterns of 3D nanoshapes from metal sheets. They believe this represents a potential manufacturing system to inexpensively mass produce innovations such as "plasmonic metamaterials" for advanced technologies, and could enable high-speed electronics, advanced sensors and so... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Dec. 30


Crafting ultrathin color coatings Harvard University researchers have developed a technique that coats a metallic object with an extremely thin layer of semiconductor, just a few nanometers thick. And while the semiconductor is a steely gray color, the object ends up shining in vibrant hues because the coating exploits interference effects in the thin films. Carefully tuned in the laboratory, ... » read more

System Bits: Sept. 30


Airway muscle-on-a-chip mimics asthma A Harvard University research team has developed a human airway muscle-on-a-chip that could be used to test new drugs as it accurately mimics the way smooth muscle contracts in the human airway, under normal circumstances and when exposed to asthma triggers. The chip also gives a window into the cellular and even subcellular responses within the tissue ... » read more

System Bits: Sept. 23


Contender emerges for 3D IC semiconductor material While silicon has few serious competitors as the material of choice in the electronics industry, transistors cannot keep shrinking to meet the needs of next-gen devices given the significant physical limitations of energy consumption and heat dissipation. To address this, researchers at Harvard University have achieved a reversible change in e... » read more

System Bits: Dec. 17


Simple, Inexpensive Graphene Treatment Could Unleash New Uses To help realize the promise of graphene in electronics, solar power, and sensors, researchers from MIT and UC Berkeley have created what they said is a simple, inexpensive treatment that they believe may help realize the potential of the material. While pure graphene lacks some key properties needed for electronic devices, modify... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: July 16


Photon Chips Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Vienna University of Technology have devised an all-optical transistor controlled by a single photon. The optical transistor could enable the development of photonic quantum gates and deterministic multi-photon entanglement. For years, researchers have been looking to develop an optical transistor, whe... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: July 9


All-optical transistor Optical computing uses light rather than electricity to perform calculations and is expected to potentially pay dividends for both conventional computers and quantum computers, which are largely hypothetical devices that could perform some types of computations exponentially faster than classical computers. One drawback is that optical computing requires light particl... » read more

Newer posts →