Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 17


Implantable TFETs At the recent IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in Washington, D.C., a number of companies, R&D organizations and universities described new breakthroughs in perhaps the next big thing in semiconductors--the tunnel field-effect transistor (TFET). Aimed for the 5nm node, TFETs are steep sub-threshold slope transistors that can scale the supply voltages bel... » read more

System Bits: Nov. 5


Silicon Photonics And Graphene The industry is looking towards silicon photonics that will increase the rate at which electronic systems can communicate with each other and reduce power consumption. Researchers at MIT, Columbia University and IBM’s T. J. Watson Research Center are already a few steps beyond the traditional attempts to build optical components using materials such as Gallium ... » read more

A Nobel Prize For Modeling And Simulation


This year, a Nobel Prize has been awarded for devising a computer model and simulation process. Bloomberg, which interviewed Marinda Wu by phone, said: “The models let us slow down…and let us look at them one piece at a time.” This enables them to optimize things. At this point you may be thinking one of three things. Either 1) I don’t remember that prize being awarded or, 2) at last ED... » read more

Blog Review: Oct. 23


It was a good week for good questions. Cadence’s Brian Fuller asks what applications dream about—or rather what’s their potential. In the context of technology development, that’s worth pondering. Mentor’s Mike Jensen asks what will you be remembered for. There are a couple other important addendums to that, such as how long you will be remembered. And perhaps even more important, ... » read more

Stanford Photonics In 2013


Every September, the Stanford Photonics Research Center and their partners at Scottish Universities and in industry showcase the latest developments in laser applications at an on-campus symposium in Palo Alto, Calif. This year, highlights included remarkable developments in particle accelerators, pollution detection and bio-medicine and looked toward increased societal impact through the Ameri... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 1


First Computer Based On Carbon Nanotubes Pointing toward a new generation of energy-efficient electronics, a team of Stanford engineers has built a basic computer using carbon nanotubes (CNT), a semiconductor material that has the potential to launch a new generation of electronic devices that run faster, while using less energy, than those made from silicon chips. People have been talking ... » read more

Making Batteries Better


By Brian Fuller The world has changed dramatically in the 209 years since Alessandro Volta hunched over his table by candlelight and figured out how to capture energy in his voltaic pile, the first electric battery. What has changed little, however, is the battery itself. Since Volta’s conception, the battery has remained a cell with negative and positive electrodes, an electrolyte, and... » read more

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