Energy Harvesting Starting To Gain Traction


Tens of billions of IoT devices are powered by batteries today. Depending on the compute intensity and the battery chemistry, these devices can run steadily for short periods of time, or they can run occasionally for decades. But in some cases, they also can either harvest energy themselves, or tap into externally harvested energy, allowing them to work almost indefinitely. Energy harvesting... » read more

Technical Paper Round-Up: March 22


New memories, materials, and transistor types, and processes for making those devices, highlighted the past week's technical papers. That includes everything from vertical MoS2 to programmable black phosphorus image sensors and photonic lift-off processes for flexible thin-film materials. Papers continue to flow from all parts of the supply chain, with some new studies out of Pakistan, Seoul... » read more

Programmable black phosphorus image sensor for broadband optoelectronic edge computing


Abstract "Image sensors with internal computing capability enable in-sensor computing that can significantly reduce the communication latency and power consumption for machine vision in distributed systems and robotics. Two-dimensional semiconductors have many advantages in realizing such intelligent vision sensors because of their tunable electrical and optical properties and amenability fo... » read more

Electro-optic spatial light modulator from an engineered organic layer


Abstract "Tailored nanostructures provide at-will control over the properties of light, with applications in imaging and spectroscopy. Active photonics can further open new avenues in remote monitoring, virtual or augmented reality and time-resolved sensing. Nanomaterials with χ(2) nonlinearities achieve highest switching speeds. Current demonstrations typically require a trade-off: they eith... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 25


Nanoscale 3D optics Researchers at Rice University and University of Houston are using 3D printing to build nanostructures of silica for micro-scale electronic, mechanical, and photonic devices. “It’s very tough to make complicated, three-dimensional geometries with traditional photolithography techniques,” said Jun Lou, a professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice. �... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers TSMC has introduced another version of its 4nm process technology. The process, called N4X, is tailored for high-performance computing products. Recently, TSMC introduced another 4nm process, called N4P, which is an enhanced version of its 5nm technology. N4X is also an enhanced version of its 5nm technology. N4X, however, offers a performance boost of up to 15% over TSMC’s N5 pro... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: June 22


Terahertz silicon multiplexer Researchers from Osaka University and University of Adelaide designed a silicon multiplexer for terahertz-range communications in the 300-GHz band. “In order to control the great spectral bandwidth of terahertz waves, a multiplexer, which is used to split and join signals, is critical for dividing the information into manageable chunks that can be more easily... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Dec. 29


Safer Li-ion batteries Scientists from Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory propose a way to make lithium-ion batteries lighter, more efficient, and fire resistant. One of the heaviest components of lithium-ion batteries are the copper or aluminum sheets that act as current collectors. "The current collector has always been considered de... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Sept. 15


Higher-res lidar Researchers from Purdue University and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) devised a way to improve lidar and provide higher-resolution detection of nearby fast-moving objects through mechanical control and modulation of light on a silicon chip. "Frequency modulated continuous wave" (FMCW) lidar detects objects by scanning laser light from the top of a vehicl... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Sept. 1


Cooling sensors with lasers Researchers at the University of Washington developed a way to cool a solid semiconductor sensor component with an infrared laser. The laser was able to cool the solid semiconductor by at least 20 degrees C, or 36 F, below room temperature. The device uses a cantilever, similar to a diving board, that can oscillate in response to thermal energy at room temperatur... » read more

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