https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/semiconductors-news/ en-us The latest news on electronics and semiconductor technology developments A newly developed organic semiconductor device can both generate electricity from light and emit bright visible light, as reported by researchers from Science Tokyo. By carefully designing a material where energy losses are suppressed, the team achieved efficient power conversion and electroluminescence simultaneously, demonstrating a multifunctional platform with potential applications in displays, sensors, and energy-harvesting technologies. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-power-generating-displays-device-harvests.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 19 May 2026 13:00:08 EDT news698413441 Plants and algae make their fuel from sunlight. Perhaps we could do the same using semiconductors. A team of scientists at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) has now made strides in that direction. They discovered a silicon semiconductor coupled to a molecular catalyst can capture higher-energy sunlight that is unused by both plants and human-made panels. Such energy could be used to drive reactions, like that between carbon dioxide and water to form hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals, or that synthesize fertilizer from nitrogen gas, which makes up 20% of our atmosphere. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-silicon-hybrid-captures-high-energy.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 13 May 2026 15:03:39 EDT news697903381 Imagine a surgical robot that could detect the boundary between a tumor and healthy tissue during an operation; not by sending images offsite for testing, but by quickly analyzing subtle differences fast enough to guide the surgeon's next move. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-optical-sensors-dont-fast-surgery.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 12 May 2026 18:20:08 EDT news697818272 Spanish researchers have demonstrated a scalable manufacturing process for carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers with electrical conductivity comparable to that of copper and aluminum. The result, published in Science, is a breakthrough for the future of electrification in aerospace, electric vehicles (EVs), drones and related applications, which require lightweight and high-strength electrical wiring. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-copper-biggest-rival-carbon-nanotube.html Electronics & Semiconductors Sun, 10 May 2026 15:00:01 EDT news697191306 Perovskites, a class of material with a characteristic crystal structure that can convert light into electricity, have proved to be promising for the development of more affordable, flexible, and efficient solar cells than the silicon cells on the market today. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-contact-2d-3d-perovskites-reshapes.html Electronics & Semiconductors Sat, 09 May 2026 13:20:01 EDT news697292303 Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have shown for the first time that ferroelectricity can be directly written into aluminum nitride using a tightly focused helium ion beam at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), a DOE Office of Science user facility at ORNL. Ferroelectric devices don't need constant power to store data, which allows for devices that are more reliable and less power consuming than what's currently available. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-focused-helium-ions-ferroelectric-regions.html Electronics & Semiconductors Thu, 07 May 2026 16:00:13 EDT news697387801 Contemporary artificial intelligence (AI) systems, such as the models underpinning the functioning of ChatGPT, image generators and AI-powered creative tools, draw inspiration from the human brain's functions and organization. While many of these systems are known to perform remarkably well on specific tasks, they still work independently from the human brain. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-3d-mind-flexible-device-brain.html Electronics & Semiconductors Thu, 07 May 2026 10:10:01 EDT news697365748 In the era of big data and artificial intelligence, a new approach has emerged for solving combinatorial optimization problems, which involves finding the most efficient solution among many possible options and can otherwise take thousands of years to compute. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-silicon-oscillators-problems-thousands-years.html Hardware Wed, 06 May 2026 12:20:05 EDT news697287601 The development of soft materials that can reliably function on the human body is important for the future of bioelectronics and wearable medical devices. These materials need to comfortably conform to the skin while being durable enough for everyday use. However, many existing soft materials are easily damaged, limiting their practical applications. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-durable-ionogel-weight-staying-soft.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 05 May 2026 16:40:01 EDT news697210772 As technology advances, and the demand for faster, higher-bandwidth, and more energy-efficient data processing continues to grow, scientists and engineers search for ways to improve electronic systems. One avenue they have been exploring is optoelectronics—the study and application of electronic devices that interface with light by detecting, emitting, or converting it into electrical signals. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-optical-chip-static-power-enabling.html Electronics & Semiconductors Fri, 01 May 2026 11:40:01 EDT news696854221 A University at Buffalo-led team has found a way to help chiral semiconductors, electronic materials whose structures are left- or right-handed like many of life's building blocks, absorb visible light. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers chemically combined a chiral semiconducting material with a non-chiral molecule that more readily absorbs visible light. The result is a new material system that can both absorb visible light and distinguish between left- and right-handed light waves, opening new possibilities for optoelectronic technologies. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-gen-semiconductors-life-handedness.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:20:02 EDT news696517381 DNA stores our genetic code. What if it could also be integrated with electronics to store and read other information? Scientists have been investigating how to store data in DNA, but retrieving the information remains a challenge. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-video-electrical-metal-dna-memory.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 27 Apr 2026 13:40:07 EDT news696515402 Digital image sensors (DIS), devices that capture images by converting light patterns into electrical signals, are integrated in many contemporary electronic devices, including smartphones, digital cameras and some medical instruments. These sensors rely on tiny light-sensitive units called pixels, which record brightness and color. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-motion-sensor-captures-ultra-high.html Engineering Mon, 27 Apr 2026 10:00:08 EDT news696502431 As devices for wireless sensing systems become smaller and more complex, finding suitable power sources for them is becoming increasingly difficult. However, advances in low-power sensing technology may allow such systems to operate using small amounts of energy available in the environment, such as body heat. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-batteries-body-potential-battery-free.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:20:05 EDT news696499621 Over the past decades, technological advances have opened remarkable possibilities for the detection and monitoring of various physiological signals associated with heart health (e.g., heart rate and ECG), sleep stages and physical activity. Most existing health and fitness trackers, however, are powered by a battery that needs to be recharged daily, every few days, or weekly. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-battery-free-textile-real-blood.html Electronics & Semiconductors Sat, 25 Apr 2026 10:40:01 EDT news696253599 The retina, the thin layer of tissue at the back of the eye, is made up of photoreceptor cells that convert visible light into electrical signals, which is essential for human vision. Some diseases, such as retinal degeneration, cause these photoreceptor cells to stop working, which results in blindness. Researchers at Yonsei University, the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and other institutes in the Republic of Korea have recently developed a new artificial retina that could partly restore vision in people with damaged retinas. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-artificial-retina-doesnt-aim-sight.html Electronics & Semiconductors Fri, 24 Apr 2026 07:40:01 EDT news696223555 Princeton researchers have combined brain cells and advanced electronics into a single 3D device that can be programmed to recognize patterns using computational techniques. Past attempts at using brain cells to do computation have relied on 2D cultures grown in a petri dish or 3D clusters that are probed and monitored from outside. The Princeton device takes a different approach, working from the inside out. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-3d-device-harnesses-brain-cells.html Electronics & Semiconductors Thu, 23 Apr 2026 17:00:04 EDT news696181502 What if the next generation of disposable electronics—the sensors in your food packaging, the diagnostic strips in a medical clinic, the environmental monitors scattered across a farm—were built not on silicon or plastic, but on a sheet of paper you could buy at the grocery store? https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-lasers-parchment-paper-high-electronic.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:00:02 EDT news696079621 The popularity of cloud computing and AI—driving massive data flows—pushes demand for ultra-high-speed, energy-efficient optical links within and between data centers; links that must be able to deliver data rates well beyond today's 200Gb/s standard. The heterogeneous integration of new materials onto silicon photonics platforms will enable next-gen electro-optical modulators and detectors for such short-reach and short-haul interconnects. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-silicon-photonics-gained-powerful-ally.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 22 Apr 2026 12:20:07 EDT news696078301 Northwestern University engineers printed artificial neurons that don't just imitate the brain—they talk to it. In a new study, the Northwestern team developed flexible, low-cost devices that generate electrical signals realistic enough to activate living brain cells. When tested on slices of tissue from mouse brains, the artificial neurons successfully triggered responses from real neurons, demonstrating a new level of biocompatibility. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-neurons-communicate-brain-cells.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 15 Apr 2026 05:00:04 EDT news695379604 In a recently published paper in Science Advances, a team led by Rice University's Yong Lin Kong describes a new 3D-printing process with focused microwaves that overcomes a fundamental constraint of electronics 3D printing that has limited the field's potential for more than a decade: the inability to heat printed ink—a crucial processing step—without damaging the materials underneath. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-3d-electronics-focused-microwaves-redefines.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:00:01 EDT news695403781 P-n diodes are two-terminal devices that consist of two types of semiconductor materials (i.e., a p-type and an n-type material) joined together. These components allow electric current to only move in one direction, which is central to the functioning of many electronic circuits. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-tiny-diode-image-sensors-adding.html Electronics & Semiconductors Sun, 12 Apr 2026 10:00:01 EDT news694957010 Researchers have developed a simple and eco-friendly way to use a laser to turn natural leather into flexible and wearable energy devices. The new approach could lay the groundwork for more sustainable wearable electronics. In a paper in Optics Letters, the researchers demonstrate the new technique by creating microsupercapacitors on leather in various patterns, including a tiger, dragon and rabbit. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-leather-power-laser-written-microsupercapacitors.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:20:03 EDT news694883702 Electrons have three intrinsic properties: spin, charge and orbital angular momentum. Researchers have long studied how to use spin to more efficiently create an electrical current. But the field of orbitronics—which is based upon using an electron's orbital angular momentum, rather than its spin, to create a current flow—remains relatively new. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-door-efficient-orbitronic-devices.html Electronics & Semiconductors Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:00:03 EDT news694425997 Rice University scientists and collaborators have created a new type of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor that comes closer than ever to a "perfect" crystal. The findings, reported in the journal Nature Synthesis, could open new possibilities for solar cells and other optoelectronic devices. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-symmetrical-2d-perovskite-boost-tandem.html Electronics & Semiconductors Sat, 04 Apr 2026 07:20:02 EDT news694505521 New types of semiconductor devices that respond to light could be possible using materials called perovskites, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis. The work, published in Advanced Materials, shows that halide perovskite crystals reversibly change shape when exposed to light. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-perovskite-crystal-lattice-devices.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 31 Mar 2026 09:20:06 EDT news694166401 Think about how easily you recognize a friend in a dimly lit room. Your eyes capture light, while your brain filters out background noise, retrieves stored visual information, and processes the image to make a match. It all happens in a fraction of a second and uses remarkably little energy. Unfortunately, artificial vision systems in smartphones, cameras, and autonomous machines operate more like an assembly line. In our recent paper published in Nature Electronics, we describe how we addressed this challenge by enabling sensing, memory, and processing within the same device, pointing to a possible route toward more efficient machine vision. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-diode-memory-smart-cameras.html Hardware Mon, 30 Mar 2026 18:00:03 EDT news694089972 Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new way to package photonic integrated circuits—tiny chips that convey information using light instead of electricity—so they can survive and operate in extreme environments, from scorchingly hot industrial settings to ultracold vacuum chambers and the depths of outer space. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-photonic-chip-packaging-extreme-environments.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 30 Mar 2026 17:20:01 EDT news694109881 Consider the chief difference between living systems and electronics: The first is generally soft and squishy while the latter is hard and rigid. Now, in work that could impact human-machine interfaces, biocompatible devices, soft robotics and more, MIT engineers and colleagues have developed a soft, flexible gel that dramatically changes its conductivity upon the application of light. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-gel-boosts-ion.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 30 Mar 2026 15:40:03 EDT news694101518 A soft material developed by researchers at QUT can convert body heat into electricity, opening the door to self-powered wearable devices and more sustainable energy technologies. Published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, the research found that the flexible hydrogel captured wasted heat and turned it into usable electrical power with record efficiency. The paper is titled "Ionic Coordination and Hierarchical Architecture Enable Record n-Type Thermoelectric Efficiency in Soft Hydrogels." https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-flexible-gel-body-power-generation.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 30 Mar 2026 12:00:09 EDT news694089421