Power/Performance Bits: June 26


Organic pigment for optoelectronics Researchers at Oregon State University are investigating xylindein, an organic pigment produced by fungi, to find low-cost, sustainable alternatives to silicon in electronic or optoelectronic applications where the high-performance capabilities of silicon aren't required. Xylindien is secreted by two wood-eating fungi in the Chlorociboria genus. Any wood ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 20


Memristors come in threes The race is on to produce a commercial memristor, and a duo from ETH Zurich may be providing a bit more push. "Basically, memristors require less energy since they work at lower voltages," explained Jennifer Rupp, professor in the Department of Materials at ETH Zurich. "They can be made much smaller than today's memory modules, and therefore offer much greater de... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: April 21


Harvesting more electromagnetic energy Researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada showed for the first time that it's possible to collect essentially all of the electromagnetic energy that falls onto a surface. Their approach involves the use of metamaterials that can be tailored to produce media that neither reflects nor transmits any power, enabling full absorption of incident w... » read more

Disruptive R&D


Leading university researchers presented their most promising technologies — describing developments ranging from sustainable metal cluster technology (that’s already spawned three notable startups) to resonance-based detection for more accurate MEMS devices — at the new Breakthrough Research Technologies session and the Silicon Innovation Forum at SEMICON West 2014. OSU metal cluster... » read more

What Comes Next?


The latest manufacturing, materials and production developments for emerging and adjacent markets will be featured at SEMICON West 2014 (www.semiconwest.org), to be held on July 8-10 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif. The co-location of emerging and adjacent market focused exhibitors and technical presentations within the framework of SEMICON West maximizes the synergies between sem... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Aug. 13


Crawling And Climbing Robots The field of autonomous robotics is generating interest, as these systems can explore areas and perform functions that are risky and inaccessible to humans. The University of California at San Diego and EPFL separately have developed new autonomous robots for a range of applications. For example, UC San Diego has developed a robot designed to scoot along utility... » read more

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