https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/semiconductors-news/ en-us The latest news on electronics and semiconductor technology developments 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 A smart pillow sleeve that vibrates to alert people who are deaf to fire and burglar alarms in the night has been created by scientists at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). Developed with members of the Deaf community, the smart textile technology replaces bulky gadgets that are kept under pillows which users say are uncomfortable. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-vibrating-pillow-nighttime-emergencies-impossible.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 22 Apr 2026 12:00:05 EDT news696075763 A research team led by Prof. Kim Bong-hoon from the Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology has developed a semiconductor fiber-based wearable sweat sensor that can collect sweat automatically and analyze various biosignals simultaneously without an external power source. They have reported their achievement in Small Structures. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-batteries-wearable-semiconductor-fabric-health.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 21 Apr 2026 17:20:10 EDT news696009722 Shares in a Chinese tech firm that supplies US chip titan Nvidia soared almost 60% on its Hong Kong debut Tuesday, having raised more than US$2 billion in the city's largest listing this year. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-chinese-ai-circuit-board-maker.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 21 Apr 2026 06:30:01 EDT news695967849 A new technology allows light to be "designed" into desired forms, potentially making AI and communication technologies faster and more accurate. A KAIST research team has developed an "integrated photonic resonator"—a core component of next-generation optical integrated circuits that process data using light. Interestingly, the research was led by an undergraduate student. This technology is expected to serve as a key foundation for next-generation security technologies such as high-speed data processing and quantum communication. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-tiny-resonator-ai-chips-communications.html Electronics & Semiconductors Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:40:01 EDT news695575202 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 A memory chip crunch fueled by the artificial intelligence boom is hindering efforts to bring more people online worldwide, the head of the GSMA telecoms industry association told AFP. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-ai-driven-chip-shortage-efforts.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 15 Apr 2026 04:40:01 EDT news695445620 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 Making semiconductors in the UK and the US would be the most sustainable way to manufacture the materials that power every electronic device on the planet, according to new research from the University of Sheffield. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-reshore-semiconductor-uk-sustainability-goals.html Electronics & Semiconductors Sat, 11 Apr 2026 12:00:04 EDT news694861698 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 Thermoelectric (TE) materials, which can directly convert heat into electricity and vice versa, are attracting significant attention as key energy technologies for applications such as electronic cooling and waste heat recovery. A research team led by Dr. Young Hun Kang at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) has developed an eco-friendly, high-performance thermoelectric material based on silver selenide (Ag₂Se), fabricated under significantly milder temperature and pressure conditions than conventional methods. The study is published in Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-cheaper-thermoelectrics-silver-selenide-approaches.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:00:01 EDT news694860961 Swapping a single atom can fine-tune the thermal conductance of single-molecule junctions without affecting their electrical conductance, according to a study led by University of Michigan Engineering with collaborators at the University of Augsburg published in Nature Materials. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-swapping-atom-molecule.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 07 Apr 2026 07:00:01 EDT news694754127 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 The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-nexperia-china-nears-fully-local.html Electronics & Semiconductors Thu, 02 Apr 2026 10:10:02 EDT news694342766 As a response to the global demand for clean energy transition, tandem solar cells are recognized as a crucial next-generation technology that will significantly improve solar power efficiency. Scholars from Lingnan University's Wu Jieh Yee School of Interdisciplinary Studies (WJYSIS) and their collaborators have innovatively developed a novel interfacial structure that substantially reduces energy loss and successfully overcomes the current limitations of perovskite solar cells in voltage, further improving the efficiency of converting sunlight into electricity. Their findings are published in Nature Communications. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-interfacial-highly-efficient-stable-tandem.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:50:02 EDT news694187123 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 Researchers at National Taiwan University have developed a unified model that explains how thickness, defects, interface quality, and roughness together control the behavior of ultrathin oxide transistors. The work, published in Small Structures, provides practical design rules for building low-leakage, normally-off devices suitable for future 3D chip stacking. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-guidelines-atom-thin-oxide-transistors.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 24 Mar 2026 19:30:01 EDT news693585990 From smartphones to large-scale AI servers, most digital information in modern society is stored in NAND flash memory. KAIST researchers have developed an innovative technology that can overcome the limitations of next-generation semiconductors, where more data must be stored in smaller spaces. This advancement is expected to serve as a key enabling technology for realizing ultra-high-capacity memory. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-storage-capacity-smart-gate-semiconductor.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 23 Mar 2026 17:30:10 EDT news693505262 Researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) present a novel component that enables very fast, economical, and reliable data transmission thanks to an advanced manufacturing technology. Their new electro-optical modulator transmits data efficiently through fiber-optic cables and can be manufactured inexpensively in large quantities on standard semiconductor wafers. This is important, as AI applications and growing data traffic are pushing data centers and fiber-optic networks to their performing limits. The researchers present their findings in Nature Communications. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-ai-centers-faster-links-mass.html Electronics & Semiconductors Sun, 22 Mar 2026 10:00:02 EDT news693069264 Powerful electronics don't have to come at an environmental cost. Scientists at Osaka Metropolitan University have developed high-performance, lead-free piezoelectric thin films directly on standard silicon wafers. Their results mark a significant step toward production of environmentally friendly energy-harvesting devices that are compatible with conventional semiconductor manufacturing. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-free-thin-everyday-vibrations-electricity.html Electronics & Semiconductors Thu, 19 Mar 2026 12:20:01 EDT news693140341 A team of international researchers have developed a breakthrough way to observe what is happening inside electronic chips while they are operating—without touching them, taking them apart, or switching them off. The new technique uses terahertz waves, a safe and non-ionizing form of electromagnetic radiation, to detect tiny movements of electrical charge inside fully packaged semiconductor devices. For the first time, this allows scientists and engineers to monitor electronic components as they function in the real world. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-ray-vision-electronics-scientists-chips.html Electronics & Semiconductors Thu, 19 Mar 2026 11:40:03 EDT news693139142 Projection mapping has the potential to create shared immersive experiences in exhibitions, commercial facilities, and public spaces. However, the technique is highly sensitive to ambient lighting, meaning that clear projected images are typically only possible when the surrounding environment is darkened. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-method-blocks-ambient-images-sharp.html Engineering Thu, 19 Mar 2026 10:00:04 EDT news693133164