Power/Performance Bits: May 8


Cobalt-free cathodes Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, built lithium-ion battery cathodes without cobalt that can store 50% more energy than traditional cobalt-containing cathodes. Currently, lithium-ion battery cathodes use layered structures, which cobalt is necessary to maintain. When lithium ions move from the cathode to anode during charging, a lot of space is left... » read more

System Bits: May 1


Tiniest implanted wireless nerve stimulator UC Berkeley researchers, co-led by Rikky Muller, who is also assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at Berkeley, have built what they say is the smallest volume, most efficient wireless nerve stimulator to date. Before this milestone, UC Berkeley engineers demonstrated the first implanted, ultrasonic neural dust sensor... » read more

System Bits: June 20


The case against general-purpose processors With a large number of emerging applications such as implantables, wearables, printed electronics, and IoT have ultra-low area and power constraints, and these applications relying on ultra-low-power general purpose microcontrollers and microprocessors, there are drawbacks, researchers at the University of Illinois and the University of Minnesota rem... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: May 23


Biosupercapacitor Researchers from UCLA and the University of Connecticut designed a biological supercapacitor, a new biofriendly energy storage system which operates using ions from fluids in the human body. The device is harmless to the body's biological systems, say the researchers, and could lead to longer-lasting cardiac pacemakers and other implantable medical devices. The supercapa... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: April 19


Hot videos The University of Minnesota has recorded videos that show how heat travels through materials, a move that could give researchers insight into the behavior of atoms and other structures. It could also pave the way towards the development of more efficient materials for use in electronics and other applications. In the lab, researchers used FEI’s transmission electron microsc... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: March 3


Black phosphorus photodetectors Phosphorus, a highly reactive element commonly found in match heads, tracer bullets, and fertilizers, can be turned into a stable crystalline form known as black phosphorus. In a new study, researchers from the University of Minnesota used an ultrathin black phosphorus film 20 atoms thick to demonstrate high-speed data communication on nanoscale optical circui... » read more

System Bits: Feb. 18


Is my iPad making me sick? If you’ve ever felt sick or queasy after using a mobile device for an extended period of time, researchers from the University of Minnesota, believe they know why. In a recent study, participants played video games on iPads - under controlled, experimental conditions - and experienced motion sickness almost a third of the time. The risk of motion sickness was fo... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Sept. 10


Rock Around The Clock National Institute of Standards and Technology’s two experimental atomic clocks have set a new record for stability. Resembling a pendulum or metronome, NIST’s atomic clocks can swing back and forth with perfect timing for a period comparable to the age of the universe. The clocks are based on ytterbium atoms. The clock ticks are stable to within less than two part... » read more

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