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News: Electronics & Computers
Scientist Creates Three-Atom-Wide Nanowire
Junhao Lin, a Vanderbilt University Ph.D. student and visiting scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has found a way to use a finely focused beam of electrons to create some of the smallest wires ever made. The flexible metallic wires are only three atoms wide: One thousandth the width of the...
News: Semiconductors & ICs
Transient Electronics Dissolve When Triggered
An Iowa State research team led by Reza Montazami is developing "transient materials" and "transient electronics" that can quickly and completely melt away when a trigger is activated. The development could mean that one day you might be able to send out a signal to destroy a lost credit card.To...
News: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Wireless Device Senses Chemical Vapors
A research team at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has developed a small electronic sensing device that can alert users wirelessly to the presence of chemical vapors in the atmosphere. The technology, which could be manufactured using familiar aerosol-jet printing techniques, is aimed at myriad...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Sub-Nanosecond, Compact, Low-Power Time-Interval Measurement
This innovation is a sub-nanosecond time-interval measurement that is compact and inexpensive, implemented in a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Currently, high-speed count ers or semi-custom or custom ASICs (application specific integrated circuits) are used for time-interval...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
CoolSPICE: SPICE Simulator for Cryogenic Electronics
Accurate assessment of circuits at cold temperatures is extremely difficult due to lack of models and tools that can simulate circuit behavior at cryogenic temperatures. A library of cryogenic temperature models was built, as well as a circuit simulator that can use those models and simulate...
News: Photonics/Optics
Imagine that you are in a meeting with coworkers or at a gathering of friends. You pull out your cell phone to show a presentation or a video on YouTube. But you don't use the tiny screen; your phone projects a...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Metal-Assisted Fabrication of Biodegradable Porous Silicon Nanostructures
Porous silicon nanowires are fabricated by two-step, metal-assisted electroless chemical etching of p-type or n-type silicon wafers. This method, in combination with nanolithography or nanopatterning, can be applied to fabricate porous silicon nanostructures of different...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Dual-Leadframe Transient Liquid Phase Bonded Power Semiconductor Module Assembly and Bonding Process
A high-temperature-capable widebandgap semiconductor power module package, coupled with a new high-temperature- capable bonding process (with...
News: Semiconductors & ICs
Head-Mounted Display Embeds an Augmented Reality Chip
Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) developed K-Glass, a wearable, hands-free head-mounted display (HMD).Unlike virtual reality which replaces the real world with a computer-simulated environment, augmented reality (AR) incorporates digital data...
News: Semiconductors & ICs
Engineers Create Transparent Semiconductors
Teams from Stanford and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have collaborated to make thin, transparent semiconductors that could become the foundation for cheap, high-performance displays.The researchers used their new process to make organic thin-film transistors with electronic characteristics...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Flexible Microstrip Circuits for Superconducting Electronics
Flexible circuits with superconducting wiring atop polyimide thin films are being studied to connect large numbers of wires between stages in cryogenic apparatus with low heat load. The feasibility of a full microstrip process, consisting of two layers of superconducting material...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Four application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that provide sensing, actuation, and power conversion capabilities for distributed control in a high-temperature (over 200 °C)...
Techs for License: Semiconductors & ICs
Low-Loss Dielectric Materials Improve PC Boards
Low-loss dielectric materials are available. The hydrocarbon- based, fiber-reinforced composite sheets can be applied to printed circuit boards and IC chip packaging. The material has a very low dielectric constant and low dissipation factor up to GHz range frequencies, and is advantageous for...
Articles: Semiconductors & ICs
Part 1 of this article, which appeared in the August 2013 issue of NASA Tech Briefs, dealt with ON-state characterization of high power semiconductors (link to Part...
News: Semiconductors & ICs
NASA Rocket Mission Will Predict Earth's Electrical Storms
A NASA-funded sounding rocket mission will launch from an atoll in the Pacific. The mission will help scientists better understand and predict the electrical storms in Earth's upper atmosphere. Storms interfere with satellite communication and global positioning signals.
News: Semiconductors & ICs
Researchers Measure Near-Field Behavior of Semiconductor Microparticles
Recent progress in the engineering of plasmonic structures has enabled new kinds of nanometer-scale optoelectronic devices as well as high-resolution optical sensing.
Articles: Photonics/Optics
Fuelled by an increasing demand for bandwidth combined with a continued drive towards cost and size reduction, larger scale photonics integrated circuits are now clearly breaking through. For example, fiber optics...
News: Test & Measurement
New Technique Monitors Semiconductor Surface as it is Etched
University of Illinois researchers have a new low-cost method to carve delicate features onto semiconductor wafers using light – and watch as it happens. The team’s new technique can monitor a semiconductor’s surface as it is etched, in real time, with nanometer resolution. It uses...
Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Redfern Integrated Optics was awarded a Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract for further development of its single-frequency, narrow- linewidth semiconductor laser...
News: Energy
Researchers from the University of Toronto (U of T) and King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) have made a breakthrough in the development of colloidal quantum dot (CQD)...
News: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Many organic contaminants in the air and in drinking water need to be detected at very low-level concentrations. Research published by the laboratory of Prashant V. Kamat, the John A. Zahm Professor of Science at...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Thermally Resilient, Broadband Optical Absorber From UV to IR Derived From Carbon Nanostructures
Optical absorber coatings have been developed from carbon-based paints, metal blacks, or glassy carbon. However, such materials are not truly black and have poor absorption characteristics at longer wavelengths. The blackness of such coatings is...
Briefs: Information Technology
Verilog-A Device Models for Cryogenic Temperature Operation of Bulk Silicon CMOS Devices
Verilog-A based cryogenic bulk CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) compact models are built for state-of-the-art silicon CMOS processes. These models accurately predict device operation at cryogenic temperatures down to 4 K. The models are compatible...
News: Test & Measurement
Making use of the force generated by magnetic repulsion, Georgia Tech researchers have developed a new technique for measuring the adhesion strength between thin films of...
News: Semiconductors & ICs
A Bio-Solar Breakthrough
An international team of researchers has developed a process that improves the efficiency of generating electric power using molecular structures extracted from plants. The system taps into photosynthetic processes to produce efficient and inexpensive energy.
News: Materials
Kitchen Gadget Inspires New Plastic Electronics
One day in 2010, a Rutgers physicist watched a store employee showcase a kitchen gadget that vacuum-seals food in plastic. The simple concept – an airtight seal around pieces of food – just might apply to his research: developing flexible electronics using lightweight organic semiconductors for...
News: Energy
University of Illinois researchers have developed a method to chemically etch patterned arrays in the semiconductor gallium arsenide - used in solar cells, lasers, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), field effect...
News: Semiconductors & ICs
Battery-Less Chemical Detector Utilizes Semiconductor Nanowires
Lawrence Livermore researchers have developed a nanosensor that relies on semiconductor nanowires rather than traditional batteries as a power source. The device overcomes the power requirement of traditional sensors and is simple, highly sensitive, and can detect various molecules...
News: Materials
Integrated Semiconductor Nanowires Improve Solar Cell Production
Tiny wires could help engineers realize high-performance solar cells and other electronics, according to University of Illinois researchers. The research group, led by electrical and computer engineering professor Xiuling Li, developed a technique to integrate compound semiconductor...
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