Manufacturing Bits: Jan. 25


Stretchable thermometers The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has developed a stretchable and self-powered thermometer that can be integrated into various systems, such as stretchable electronics and soft robots. Depending on the materials used, the stretchable thermometer can measure temperatures of more than 200 degrees Celsius to -100 degrees Cel... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Feb. 8


Metalens for AR/VR The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has developed a new lens technology for use in next-generation virtual and augmented reality systems. Researchers have developed a so-called metalens technology. The two-millimeter achromatic metalens is capable of focusing the RGB (red, green, blue) colors at once without any aberrations. Today, s... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Nov. 17


Intel’s gate-all-around FETs At the upcoming IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), Intel is expected to present papers on its efforts to develop gate-all-around transistors. One paper from Intel describes a more conventional gate-all-around transistor technology called a nanosheet FET. Another paper involves a next-generation NMOS-on-PMOS nanoribbon transistor technology. (F... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 9


Metalens breakthroughs Using a conventional lithography system, Harvard has developed what researchers call an all-glass, centimeter-scale metalens. A metalens is a flat surface, which makes use of nanostructures to focus light. It’s a disruptive technology that could displace traditional glass-based lenses. Applications include virtual reality (VR) devices, biological imaging techniques ... » read more

December ’18 Startup Funding: Big Rounds As 2018 Ends


During the month of December, 16 startups had private funding rounds of $100 million and up, with half of them in the mobility area. Those 16 rounds totaled $3.2 billion as the year concluded. Before the holidays, the SoftBank Vision Fund invested $500 million in Cambridge Mobile Telematics, provider of the DriveWell platform used by insurers, vehicle fleets, wireless carriers, and others to... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 16


On-chip modulator Researchers at Harvard SEAS and Nokia Bell Labs boosted shrunk down an important component of optoelectronics with an on-chip modulator that is 100 times smaller and 20 times more efficient than current lithium niobite (LN) modulators. Lithium niobate modulators form the basis of modern telecommunications, converting electronic data to optical information in fiber optic ca... » read more

Reconfigurable eFPGA For Aerospace Applications


Market research reports indicate about 10% of all dollar revenue of FPGA chips is for use in aerospace applications, and DARPA/DoD reports indicate about one-third of all dollar volume of ICs purchased by U.S. aerospace are FPGAs. FPGAs clearly are very important for aerospace applications because of a combination of short development time and the long mission life of many aerospace applica... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: May 8


Cobalt-free cathodes Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, built lithium-ion battery cathodes without cobalt that can store 50% more energy than traditional cobalt-containing cathodes. Currently, lithium-ion battery cathodes use layered structures, which cobalt is necessary to maintain. When lithium ions move from the cathode to anode during charging, a lot of space is left... » read more

System Bits: Jan. 30


Lab-in-the-cloud Although Internet-connected smart devices have penetrated numerous industries and private homes, the technological phenomenon has left the research lab largely untouched, according to MIT researchers. Spreadsheets, individual software programs, and even pens and paper remain standard tools for recording and sharing data in academic and industry labs — until now. TetraScie... » read more

Reflection On 2017: Design And EDA


People love to make predictions, and most of the time they have it easy, but at Semiconductor Engineering, we ask them to look back on the predictions they make each year and to assess how close to the mark they were. We see what they missed and what surprised them. Not everyone accepts our offer to grade themselves, but most have this year. (Part one looked at the predictions associated with s... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →