Power/Performance Bits: Aug. 10


Flexible electrodes for thin films Researchers from the University of Queensland and ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science (University of Melbourne) developed a material for flexible, recyclable, transparent electrodes that could be used in things like solar panels, touchscreens, and smart windows. Eser Akinoglu of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science said, "The performance... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: May 19


Neuromorphic magnetic nanowires Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at Dallas, and Sandia National Laboratory propose a neuromorphic computing method using magnetic components. The team says this approach can cut the energy cost of training neural networks. "Right now, the methods for training your neural networks are very energy-intensive," said Jean Ann... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: July 25


Metrology for the intelligence community The semiconductor industry continues to move full speed ahead with traditional chip scaling. There are several challenges in the arena. One of the big but lessor known challenges is metrology. Metrology, the science of characterizing and measuring films and structures, is becoming more complex, challenging and expensive at each node. Looking to solv... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 10


Singing to your storage Existing research on 'racetrack memory', which uses tiny magnetic wires, each one hundreds of times thinner than a human hair, down which magnetic bits of data run like racing cars around a track, has focused on using either magnetic fields or electric currents to move the data bits down the wires. However, both these options create heat and reduce power efficiency. ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: May 12


Photonic thermometers The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a new class of photonic thermometers. These chip-based thermometers measure temperature using light. They are resistant to electromagnetic interference and are self-calibrating. In the future, photonic thermometers could be buried into walls or sent into space. They could be used for chemical, pres... » read more