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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: Sensors/Data Acquisition
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: Nanotechnology
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: Materials
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: Semiconductors & ICs
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: Semiconductors & ICs
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: Materials
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: Electronics & Computers
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: Physical Sciences
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...
News: Semiconductors & ICs
Cotton: The Fabric of Our Transistors?
An international team has developed transistors using natural cotton fibers — an innovation that represents a significant leap forward because it lays the groundwork for creating even more complex devices, such as cotton-based circuits, which in turn open doors to the creation of wearable electronic devices...
News: Energy
A Northwestern University research team has developed a new material that absorbs a wide range of wavelengths and could lead to more efficient and less expensive solar technology. The researchers used two...
Blog: Electronics & Computers
Computers that Mimic the Brain
INSIDER reader Kenneth Polcak submitted a "Question of the Week" to his fellow design engineer pros:
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
MOSFET Switching Circuit Protects Shape Memory Alloy Actuators
A small-footprint, full surface-mount-component printed circuit board employs MOSFET (metal-oxide-semi-conductor field-effect transistor) power switches to switch high currents from any input power supply from 3 to 30 V.
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Circuit for Communication Over Power Lines
Many distributed systems share common sensors and instruments along with a common power line supplying current to the system. A communication technique and circuit has been developed that allows for the simple inclusion of an instrument, sensor, or actuator node within any system containing a common power...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Optimized FPGA Implementation of Multi-Rate FIR Filters Through Thread Decomposition
Multi-rate finite impulse response (MRFIR) filters are among the essential signal-processing components in space-borne instruments where finite impulse response filters are often used to minimize nonlinear group delay and finite-precision effects. Cascaded...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Small Microprocessor for ASIC or FPGA Implementation
A small microprocessor, suitable for use in applications in which high reliability is required, was designed to be implemented in either an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The design is based on commercial microprocessor architecture,...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Source-Coupled, N-Channel, JFET-Based Digital Logic Gate Structure Using Resistive Level Shifters
A circuit topography is used to create usable, digital logic gates using N (negatively doped) channel junction field effect transistors (JFETs), load resistors, level shifting resistors, and supply rails whose values are based on the DC parametric...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Monitoring Digital Closed-Loop Feedback Systems
A technique of monitoring digital closed-loop feedback systems has been conceived. The basic idea is to obtain information on the performances of closed-loop feedback circuits in such systems to aid in the determination of the functionality and integrity of the circuits and of performance margins.
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A proposed integrated circuit would translate (1) a pair of input signals having a low differential potential and a possibly high common-mode potential into (2) a pair of output signals...
Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Single-frequency semiconductor laserRedfern Integrated Optics (RIO)Santa Clara, CA408-970-3500www.rio-inc.com
NASA has chosen Redfern Integrated Optics to further develop a single-frequency,...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Interface Supports Multiple Broadcast Transceivers for Flight Applications
A wireless avionics interface provides a mechanism for managing multiple broadcast transceivers. This interface isolates the control logic required to support multiple transceivers so that the flight application does not have to manage wireless transceivers. All of the logic...
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