Research Bits: Oct. 8


Soft, flexible polymer semiconductors Stanford University materials scientists used a specialized electron microscope – cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo 4D-STEM) – to explore the microstructure of soft semiconductors that could lead to new-generation electronics. Organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs) are soft, flexible polymer semiconductors with promising electrochemical qua... » read more

Chip Industry Week in Review


Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology proposed a new EUV litho technology using only four reflective mirrors and a new method of illumination optics that it claims will use 1/10 the power and cost half as much as existing EUV technology from ASML. Applied Materials may not receive expected U.S. funding to build a $4 billion research facility in Sunnyvale, CA, due to internal government... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis will create an electric vehicle charging network, installing more than 30,000 high-powered DC charge points accessible to any cars that use Combined Charging System (CCS) or North American Charging Standard (NACS) connectors. Opening summer 2024, the network will leverage Plug & Charge technology and allow easy digital ... » read more

Research Bits: April 25


Superconductor breakthrough — palladium Palladium may be a better superconductor than even nickelates (superconductors based on nickel), according to research by TU Wien working with Japanese universities. The research shows that palladates may be a ‘Goldilocks material’ in which it can continue its superconducting state at a higher temperature. "Palladium is directly one line below n... » read more

Technical Paper Round-Up: March 29


Improving batteries, ultra low-power photonic edge computing, SLAM, Tellurium for 2D semiconductors, and reservoir computing top the past week's technical papers. The focus on energy is critical as the edge buildout continues and more devices are connected to a battery, while research into new architectures and materials that will continue scaling and improve performance per watt continue at th... » read more

Experimental photonic quantum memristor


Abstract "Memristive devices are a class of physical systems with history-dependent dynamics characterized by signature hysteresis loops in their input–output relations. In the past few decades, memristive devices have attracted enormous interest in electronics. This is because memristive dynamics is very pervasive in nanoscale devices, and has potentially groundbreaking applications ranging... » read more

Security Research Bits


A number of hardware security-related technical papers were presented at the August 2021 USENIX Security Symposium. The organization provides open access research, and the presentation slides and papers are free to the public. Topics include side-channel attacks and defenses, embedded security, hardware security tokens, and more. Here are some highlights with associated links:   [tab... » read more

Usability of Authenticity Checks for Hardware Security Tokens


Abstract:  "The final responsibility to verify whether a newly purchased hardware security token (HST) is authentic and unmodified lies with the end user. However, recently reported attacks on such tokens suggest that users cannot take the security guarantees of their HSTs for granted, even despite widely deployed authenticity checks. We present the first comprehensive market review eva... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: July 28


Nanoscale IR imaging The Nanooptics Group at CIC nanoGUNE has made some major advances in the emerging field of nanoscale infrared microscopy. The group’s technology, called nano-FTIR spectroscopy, is an infrared characterization technique. Infrared (IR) isn’t new. Invisible to the human eye, infrared wavelengths range between 760nm to 1,000nm. For years, infrared inspection/metrology h... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 5


Conductive yarn Researchers at Drexel University created an electrically conductive coating for yarn that withstands wearing, washing, and industrial textile manufacturing. Rather than using metallic fibers, the coating is made up of different sized flakes of the two-dimensional material MXene, which was applied to standard cellulose-based yarns. Titanium carbide MXene can be produced in f... » read more

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