Power/Performance Bits: Feb. 3


Bulletproof vests for batteries It was almost two years ago that the Boeing Dreamliner was grounded because of fires caused by its lithium-ion batteries. Now researchers at the University of Michigan have used nanofibers extracted from Kevlar, best known as the material in bulletproof vests, to create a new barrier between the electrodes in a lithium-ion battery. Lithium atoms in batterie... » 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

When Will 2.5D Cut Costs?


There is a constant drive to reduce costs within the semiconductor industry and, up until now, [getkc id="74" comment="Moore's Law"] provided an easy path to enable this. By adopting each smaller node, transistors were cheaper, but that is no longer the case, as explained in a recent article. The industry will need to find new technologies to make this happen and some people are looking towards... » read more

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