Photonic Compact Chip That Seamlessly Converts Light Into Microwaves (NIST, et al.)


A new technical paper titled "Photonic chip-based low-noise microwave oscillator" was published by researchers at NIST, University of Colorado Boulder, California Institute of Technology, UCSB, University of Virginia and Yale University. Abstract "Numerous modern technologies are reliant on the low-phase noise and exquisite timing stability of microwave signals. Substantial progress has b... » read more

Research Bits: October 31


Skinlike sensor for robots University of British Columbia engineers with help from researchers from Frontier Robotics, Honda research institute, created a soft sensor that approximates skin. Mostly made of silicone rubber, the sensor uses weak electric fields to sense objects, even at a distance, and can detect forces into and along its surface. The sensor could provide touch sensitivity and d... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Synopsys’ board of directors appointed Sassine Ghazi as president and chief executive officer effective on Jan. 1, 2024. Ghazi, who is currently the COO, will succeed Aart de Geus, co-founder, chair, and CEO of Synopsys, who will then become the executive chair of board of directors. IBM Research introduced  an energy-efficient mixed-signal analog AI chip for DNN inferencing and demonstra... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Hyundai, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and others invested a combined $100 million in Canada-based Tenstorrent to accelerate the design and development of AI chiplets and machine-learning software and allow the integration of AI into future Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis vehicles, plus other future mobilities such as robotics and advanced air mobility (AAM). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administr... » read more

Research Bits: June 27


Tunable soliton microcomb Researchers from the University of Rochester and CalTech say they have created the first microwave-rate soliton microcomb that can control the repetition rate at a high speed. Microcombs are frequency combs that can fit on a microchip, which will be useful in photonics. Solitons are solitary waves that keep their shape as they move at a constant speed. The team put an... » read more

Research Bits: June 13


Converting heat to electricity Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and University of Colorado Boulder fabricated a device to boost the conversion of heat into electricity. The technique involves depositing hundreds of thousands of microscopic columns of gallium nitride atop a silicon wafer. Layers of silicon are then removed from the underside of the waf... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Arm unveiled the Arm Cortex-M85 processor and expanded Arm Virtual Hardware to more platforms, including 3rd party devices. The Cortex-M85 is the highest performance Cortex-M processor to date, with 30% scalar performance uplift compared to the Cortex-M7, technology to support endpoint ML and DSP workloads, and includes Pointer Authentication and Branch Target Identification (PACBTI), a new arc... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Dec. 14


Improved digital sensing Researchers from Imperial College London and Technical University of Munich propose a technique to improve the capability of many different types of sensors. The method addresses voltage limits in analog-to-digital converters and the saturation that results in poor quality when an incoming signal exceeds those limits. “Our new technique lets us capture a fuller ra... » read more

Considerations for Neuromorphic Supercomputing in Semiconducting and Superconducting Optoelectronic Hardware


Abstract: "Any large-scale spiking neuromorphic system striving for complexity at the level of the human brain and beyond will need to be co-optimized for communication and computation. Such reasoning leads to the proposal for optoelectronic neuromorphic platforms that leverage the complementary properties of optics and electronics. Starting from the conjecture that future large-scale neurom... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: March 30


Harvesting body heat Researchers at University of Colorado Boulder, Harbin Institute of Technology, Southeast University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology designed a stretchy thermoelectric generator that can be worn against the skin to power small wearable electronics using body heat. The stretchy material polyimine is used as the base of the device. A series of thin therm... » read more

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