Semiconductors & ICs

Smartphone-Based COVID-19 Test

The test uses a smartphone microscope and could deliver results in about 10 minutes.

Fabricating Stable, High-Mobility Transistors for Next-generation Display Technologies

The trade-off between carrier mobility and stability in amorphous oxide semiconductor-based thin film transistors (TFTs) has been finally overcome by...

New Photonic Effect Could Speed Drug Development

Twisted nanoscale semiconductors manipulate light in a new way. This effect could be harnessed to accelerate the discovery and development of life-saving medicines as well as photonic...

Biosensors Using Field-Effect Transistors Show Great Promise

Demand for sensitive and selective electronic biosensors — analytical devices that monitor a target of interest in real time — is growing for a wide range of applications....

The Path to Smarter Vehicle Charging

As light-duty and commercial-purpose battery electric vehicles (EVs) catch on, better, faster, and smarter battery recharging is on the way.

New Products: February 2022 Motion Design

Test servo drives, robot monitors, AC motors, and more

Technique Extends Next-Generation Lithium Metal Batteries

The discovery could enable lightweight, low-cost, long-lasting energy storage for electric vehicles, houses, and more.

Soft, Mechanical Metamaterials

These “living machines” hold potential for applications from medical treatments to improving the environment.

Fabricating Superconducting Circuitry on Both Sides of an Ultrathin Silicon Layer

A new fabrication methodology addresses the need for a thin, double-sided circuitry board.

Photonic Integrated Chip for Improved Light Control

This combination of technologies could enable developments for many optical applications.

Material Derived from Trees Could Replace Liquid Electrolytes

The material could pave the way for better, safer solid-state batteries.

New Products: February 2022 Battery & Electrification Technology

Charger ICs, backup units, power supplies, and more.

Giving Bug-Like Bots a Boost

A new fabrication technique helps improve the performance of flying micro-robots.

Q&A: A Unique Material Transmits Heat in One Direction and Blocks it in Another

Professor Jiwoong Park and his team have made a material that is crystalline in the X-Y direction, but amorphous in the Z direction.

Sound Waves Transport Droplets for Rewritable Lab-on-a-Chip Devices

Vibrating transducers create tunnels in a thin layer of oil to transport droplets across a chip without leaving a trace behind.

Fabrication Method for Large-Scale Production of Perovskite Solar Cells

The sulfolane-additive process yields easy fabrication, low cost, and long operating life.

3D-Printed Objects Sense How a User is Interacting with Them

Sensing is incorporated directly into an object’s material, with applications for assistive technology and “intelligent” furniture.

SPIE Photonics West 2022 Preview

The main Photonics West exhibition opens on Tuesday, January 25.

5 Ws of the Winged Flying Microchip

About the size of a grain of sand, the flying microchip (or microflier) does not have a motor or engine.

High-Sensitivity Microwave Radiation Sensor

Better detection of microwave radiation will enable improved thermal imaging, electronic warfare, radio communications, and radar.

On/Off Functionality for Fast, Sensitive, Ultra-Small Technologies

An ultra-small actuator has nanometer-scale precision.

Small and Dexterous Cockroach-Inspired Robot

This robot can run, jump, carry heavy payloads, and turn on a dime.

Tiny Quantum Sensors See Materials Transform Under Pressure

Diamonds’ atomic flaws are converted into atomic sensors that watch a quantum world of materials under extreme pressure.

Programmable Digital Fiber

The fiber contains memory, temperature sensors, and a trained neural network program for inferring physical activity.

Sensitive New Way of Detecting Transistor Defects

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and collaborators have devised and tested a highly sensitive method of detecting and counting defects in...

Layers of Crystalline Nanosheets Enable Tunable Electronic Properties

Boron is a versatile non-metal element, but until the last five years, chemists have only theorized about the useful properties and applications of two-dimensional...