Research Bits: Dec. 5


Protonic programmable resistors for AI Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed an analog deep learning processor based on protonic programmable resistors arranged in an array. In the processor, increasing and decreasing the electrical conductance of protonic resistors enables analog machine learning. The conductance is controlled by the movement of protons... » read more

Research Bits: Nov. 21


Graphene heater for phase-change switches Researchers from the University of Washington, Stanford University, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, University of Maryland, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology designed an energy-efficient, silicon-based non-volatile switch that manipulates light through the use of a phase-change material and graphene heater. Aiming to reduce the power consum... » read more

Research Bits: Nov. 7


ADC side-channel attacks Researchers at MIT propose two ways to protect analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) from power and electromagnetic side-channel attacks. The researchers first investigated the side-channel attacks that could be used against ADCs. Power attacks usually involve an attacker soldering a resistor onto the device’s circuit board to measure its power usage. An electromagn... » read more

Research Bits: Oct. 18


Modular AI chip Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, Stanford University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, and Tsinghua University created a modular approach to building stackable, reconfigurable AI chips. The design comprises alternating layers of sensing and processing elements, along with LEDs t... » read more

Research Bits: Aug. 30


Through glass vias Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) developed a Through Glass Via (TGV) process for 3D advanced packaging, which they say enables low transmission loss and high vacuum wafer-level packaging of high-frequency chips and MEMS sensors. TGV is a vertical interconnection technology applied in wafer-level vacuum packaging. The researchers found that it has goo... » read more

Research Bits: Aug. 23


Algae-powered microprocessor Engineers from the University of Cambridge, Arm Research, Scottish Association for Marine Science, and Norwegian University of Science and Technology used a widespread species of blue-green algae to power an Arm Cortex M0+ microprocessor continuously for over a year. The algae, Synechocystis, is non-toxic and harvests energy from photosynthesis. The tiny electri... » read more

Research Bits: June 21


Side-channel protection for edge AI Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology built a chip that can defend against power side-channel attacks targeting machine learning computations in smartwatches, smartphones, and tablets. Side-channel attacks involve observing a facet of the device's operation, in this case power, to deduce secrets. “The goal of this project is to buil... » read more

Research Bits: May 17


Magnetic storage structures Researchers from The Ohio State University and Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico investigated a new material that could potentially increase the capacity of magnetic storage devices. They identified manganese germanide, an unusual magnetic material in which the magnetism follows helices, similar to the structure of DNA. The structure gives rise to a number ... » read more

Research Bits: April 26


Photonic quantum computers Researchers from Stanford University propose a simpler design method for photonic quantum computers. The proposed design uses a laser to manipulate a single atom that, in turn, can modify the state of the photons via a phenomenon called “quantum teleportation.” The atom can be reset and reused for many quantum gates, eliminating the need to build multiple distinc... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Feb. 15


Strong plastics The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed a new material that is stronger than steel but is light as plastic. The new material, which can be made in large quantities, involves a two-dimensional polymer that self-assembles into sheets. The material’s Young modulus—or a measure of how much force it takes to deform a material—is between four and six times gr... » read more

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