2D Semiconductors Make Progress, But Slowly


Researchers are looking at a variety of new materials at future nodes, but progress remains slow. In recent years, 2D semiconductors have emerged as a leading potential solution to the problem of channel control in highly scaled transistors. As devices shrink, the channel thickness should shrink proportionally. Otherwise, the gate capacitance won’t be large enough to control the flow of cu... » read more

Chasing After Carbon Nanotube FETs


Carbon nanotube transistors are finally making progress for potential use in advanced logic chips after nearly a quarter century in R&D. The question now is whether they will move out of the lab and into the fab. Several government agencies, companies, foundries, and universities over the years have been developing, and are now making advancements with carbon nanotube field-effect transi... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: June 16


One-directional optical Researchers from University of Pennsylvania, Peking University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a design for optical devices that radiate light in only one direction, which could reduce energy consumption in optical fiber networks and data centers. Light tends to flow in a single direction optical fibers, but while most of the light passing through... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: May 26


Warmer quantum computing Researchers at the University of New South Wales Sydney, Université de Sherbrooke, Aalto University, and Keio University developed a proof-of-concept quantum processor unit cell on a silicon chip that works at 1.5 Kelvin – 15 times warmer than current chip-based technology that uses superconducting qubits. "This is still very cold, but is a temperature that can b... » read more

Possible Uses Narrow For Negative Capacitance FETs


The discovery of a ferroelectric phase in hafnium dioxide (HfO2) has sparked significant interest in opportunities for integration of ferroelectric transistors and memories with conventional CMOS devices. Demonstrations of “negative capacitance” behavior in particular suggest these devices might evade the 60 mV/decade limit on subthreshold swing, thereby improving transistor efficiency. ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: June 4


Flexible high-temp dielectric Researchers at Rice University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Cornell University developed a new high-temperature dielectric nanocomposite for flexible electronics, energy storage, and electric devices that combines one-dimensional polymer nanofibers and two-dimensional boron nitride nanosheets. The polymer nanofibers act as a structural reinforcement, w... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: July 24


Fast rotors Purdue University and others have developed what researchers claim is the world’s fastest man-made rotor. Researchers devised a tiny dumbbell from silica. Then, the object was levitated in a vacuum using a laser, thereby creating a spinning effect. This, in turn, enabled more than 60 billion revolutions per minute or more than 100,000 times faster than a dental drill. The t... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 23


Atomristors for thin memory Engineers at The University of Texas at Austin and Peking University developed a thin memory storage device with dense memory capacity. Dubbed "atomristors," the device enables 3-D integration of nanoscale memory with nanoscale transistors on the same chip. "For a long time, the consensus was that it wasn't possible to make memory devices from materials that were... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Sept. 24


LEGO AFM Students from the University College London (UCL), Tsinghua University and Peking University have built an atomic force microscope (AFM) or nanoscope using toy LEGOs. The AFM, dubbed LEGO2NANO, costs less than $500 to make. In contrast, traditional AFMs cost $100,000 or more. The system was made using LEGOs, Arduino controllers, 3D printed parts and consumer electronics. [captio... » read more

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