https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/semiconductors-news/ en-us The latest news on electronics and semiconductor technology developments Inside every electronic device, the flow of electricity is controlled by a switch called a transistor. For decades, these switches were made from silicon. More recently, engineers have turned to a material called gallium nitride (GaN), which enables small, efficient devices like smartphone chargers. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-transistor-high-voltage-microchip-scale.html Electronics & Semiconductors Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:40:03 EDT news707129462 Gold has been the safe choice for perovskite solar cells. We found a way to stop needing it. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-gold-standard-ultrathin-chromium-layer.html Electronics & Semiconductors Thu, 27 Aug 2026 17:20:01 EDT news707043018 Metals, semiconductors and insulators are fundamental components of modern electronics. However, efforts to improve device performance have largely focused on semiconductor quality, while metal crystallinity has received far less attention. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-nanoscale-transistors-contact-resistance-stepwise.html Electronics & Semiconductors Thu, 27 Aug 2026 14:00:13 EDT news707049961 A new set of modular components allows users to create reconfigurable smart devices with electrical connections that keep working no matter what shape the structure forms. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-bifur-circuits-devices-electrical-intact.html Engineering Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:00:48 EDT news707050816 A research team has developed a flexible near-infrared (NIR) photodetector that delivers photoresponsivity more than five times higher while maintaining its performance under repeated bending. The technology is expected to serve as a core platform for next-generation flexible optoelectronic devices, including wearable health care devices, medical diagnostic sensors and optical communication receivers. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-flexible-sensor-infrared-higher-response.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:00:05 EDT news706961041 Fuel cells, devices that generate electricity by converting the chemical energy of hydrogen or other fuels via electrochemical reactions, are promising solutions for powering large electric vehicles, industrial sites and remote facilities. To drive the necessary reactions, solid oxide fuel cells rely on ceramic, heat-resistant electrolytes, solid materials that transport ions between two electrodes. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-aurivillius-materials-temperature-fuel-cells.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 26 Aug 2026 08:00:08 EDT news706866209 Researchers at Princeton Engineering have created a semiconductor with unique properties: It is just a few molecules thick and can repeatedly change its properties in response to light. This is a step toward building more energy-efficient sensors, optoelectronic devices and computing technologies. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-erasable-semiconductor.html Engineering Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:20:07 EDT news706893121 Semiconductor devices such as LEDs and transistors generally consist of two halves: an n-type, which carries negative charge via electrons, and a p-type, which moves positive charge carriers called holes that are essentially electron voids. Both halves rely on contacts that allow electric current to flow in and out with minimal energy loss. These connections, known as ohmic contacts, have been an efficiency bottleneck in thin p-type GaN semiconductors for decades because of their high resistance. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-resistance-contacts-pave-gallium-nitride.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 24 Aug 2026 15:00:01 EDT news706802341 For more than two decades, silicon carbide (SiC) has been promoted as the key to developing extreme-environment electronics. Yet despite its promise, the field has remained stuck at the stage of basic research, failing to result in the development of practical devices. Now, a team of researchers at Kyoto University has set out to change that. "We believe the lack of development is because the research community has been trying to apply silicon-era thinking to a fundamentally different material," says Mitsuaki Kaneko first author of a new study published in APL Electronic Devices. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-silicon-carbide-transistor-600c.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 24 Aug 2026 08:20:03 EDT news706777211 Nestled in the wooded hills of Austria's Styria region, the town of Leoben oozes tradition with its pastel-colored buildings and quaint central square boasting a 13th-century church. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-austrian-mountain-town-niche-ai.html Electronics & Semiconductors Sun, 23 Aug 2026 06:00:01 EDT news706681653 As transistors inside microchips continue to shrink, the metal wiring that connects them is becoming a growing obstacle to faster, more energy-efficient chips. Narrower wires have greater electrical resistance, while smaller gaps between them increase interference between adjacent signals. These effects impede data transfer and raise energy consumption—an issue known as an interconnect bottleneck, which is especially acute in data-hungry artificial intelligence processors. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-nanometers-carbon-layers-future-chip.html Electronics & Semiconductors Thu, 20 Aug 2026 11:40:09 EDT news706444021 MIT researchers have overcome a major challenge holding back the real-world deployment of microwave quantum technologies for advanced signal processing and secure communications. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-hybrid-magnetic-device-enables-quantum.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 19 Aug 2026 13:22:50 EDT news706364544 From a skin patch that changes color to flag abnormal blood sugar to a diver's sleeve display that stays readable underwater, the need for bright, flexible screens is growing, but no existing technology delivers the combination of simplicity, low power and robustness these applications need. Existing organic light-emitting diodes require complex multilayer structures that are difficult to bend reliably. Light-emitting capacitors are simpler, but they demand hundreds or even thousands of volts, ruling out anything worn on the body. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-ultimate-flexible-screens-brightness-redesigned.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:20:04 EDT news706288141 A flash of light lasting a fraction of a millisecond could help create better materials for solar energy. Researchers used ultrafast heating at rates of up to 10 million degrees Celsius per second to rearrange the atoms inside a semiconductor, producing a version that generated up to 50 times more electrical current from light than the same material in its ordinary form. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-high-materials-surface-beneath.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:40:05 EDT news706270433 MIT researchers have engineered bacteria that can function as transistors, allowing the team to create living "circuit boards" that can be printed onto a growth medium in a Petri dish. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-bacteria-transistors.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 17 Aug 2026 17:40:01 EDT news706206421 In electronic devices, irregular fluctuations in signals are generally referred to as "noise." Because noise interferes with accurate information processing, conventional semiconductor technology has mainly treated it as something to be reduced or eliminated. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-semiconductor-neuron-tunes-noise.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 17 Aug 2026 13:40:08 EDT news706191721 Recovering valuable metals from electronic waste, mining streams and industrial waste typically requires large quantities of chemical reagents. Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a new molecule that could replace much of that chemistry with electricity—a fundamental advance that could potentially make metal recovery cleaner, simpler and more energy-efficient. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-built-chemical-reagents-gold-recovery.html Electronics & Semiconductors Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:20:05 EDT news705933841 A new physics-based analytical model can accurately predict ferroelectric behavior under real-world, complex voltages, according to a study led by University of Michigan Engineering. The model bridges the longstanding gap between fundamental switching physics and practical device engineering. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-bridges-ferroelectric-physics-circuit.html Engineering Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:40:09 EDT news705753481 Smartwatches, phones and even some drones rely on lightweight, rechargeable energy storage systems. Once those devices wear out, many end up as electronic waste. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Energy Letters have developed a compact supercapacitor that can be quickly disassembled into reusable components. They used the devices to power a glider's propeller and then took apart one supercapacitor and sequentially reused parts in two new ones that performed as well as the original device. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-energy-storage-device-recycled.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:40:06 EDT news705745561 The ability to change focus instantly is something most people take for granted. Every day, our eyes effortlessly switch between reading a book, recognizing a face across the room or watching a bird fly overhead. Replicating that remarkable technological flexibility, however, has proved far more difficult. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-graphene-powered-soft-lens-pave.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:20:01 EDT news705596001 Researchers from Skoltech—a VEB.RF group institution—and their colleagues from State Marine Technical University and others have found a way to improve the balance between the mechanical strength and ductility of 3D-printed aluminum bronze. An alloy of copper and aluminum with a minor addition of iron, this material is a promising candidate for making additively manufactured heat exchange units that cool sensitive electronic components, such as processors. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-treatment-strength-ductility-3d-aluminum.html Engineering Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:00:16 EDT news705231566 The same overheating problem that happens to our laptops also plagues computer servers and data centers around the world—and heat management is only getting harder as computer chips get more compact and powerful. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-electronics.html Engineering Thu, 06 Aug 2026 10:00:01 EDT news705228241 For more than 10 years, atomically thin semiconductors have been considered among the most promising alternatives to silicon. Only a single atom thick, these materials possess strong electrical characteristics and could facilitate the development of faster, smaller and more energy-efficient transistors that surpass the limits of current chip technology. However, despite significant advances in discovering new two-dimensional semiconductors, one persistent engineering obstacle continues to hinder progress. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-atomic-interface-path-atomically-thin.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:20:07 EDT news705165154 A research team led by Jung Kyu Kim, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) (co-first authors: Ph.D. candidates Dong Zhang and Jong Hun Kim), in collaboration with Min-Cheol Kim, a professor at Sookmyung Women's University, announced the development of a novel electrode material that overcomes the chronic limitation of low operating voltage in aqueous electrolyte-based supercapacitors and significantly improves their energy density. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-atom-based-electrode-significantly-voltage.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 05 Aug 2026 09:40:01 EDT news705140343 Soft sensors convert movement, temperature and moisture into electrical signals. Repeated bending and friction can cause their metal conductors to peel from the underlying polymer, while physical damage, such as cuts, can disable the device. Commonly used petroleum-derived substrates are also environmentally unfriendly because they are difficult to recycle. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-recyclable-substrate-durable-soft-sensors.html Engineering Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:00:04 EDT news705076321 A research team led by Professor Kang Bosoek of the SKKU Advanced Institute of Nano Technology (SAINT), Department of Nano Engineering and Department of Semiconductor Convergence Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University has developed two new molecular design technologies to enhance the electrical conductivity of organic electronic materials. One technology generates a greater number of charge carriers within a polymer, while the other connects transport pathways so that charge can move without interruption. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-polar-molecules-polymer-bridges-key.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:52:50 EDT news705073895 Semiconductors such as silicon are the cornerstone of today's essential technologies, but the variety of materials available to power devices is limited. While metal oxides are durable, only a small subset are semiconducting because they are naturally insulating. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-resilient-semiconductor-materials.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:20:06 EDT news705071342 Molecules are among the smallest building blocks available for making next-generation devices. Their unique, customizable properties enable promising applications in emerging computing, sensing, optical and quantum technologies. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-molecules-reliable-electronic-devices-fabrication.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:40:03 EDT news704985721 Wearable electronics are gradually evolving from simple sensors into feature-rich devices that can make basic decisions and support medical care in real time. To fully realize this vision, wearable systems must be soft and versatile enough to adapt naturally to the body while performing tasks without sacrificing comfort or reliability. Creating electronics that combine flexibility and computing in a single device remains a difficult challenge. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-transistor-wearable-electronics-roles-salt.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 03 Aug 2026 12:40:04 EDT news704979241 Recently, the field of magnetics has seen the proposal of a new class of magnetism called altermagnetism, which could allow advances in miniaturizing and improving RAM architecture in computers. Rice University's Ming Yi, together with collaborators Bharat Jalan of the University of Minnesota and Milan Radovic of the Paul Scherrer Institute, recently published a paper in Science Advances showing that the quantum material ruthenium dioxide potentially displays this new altermagnetism in its ultrathin-film form, in which the material is prepared as a thin slice only a few atomic layers thick. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-magnetism-quantum-materials.html Electronics & Semiconductors Sun, 02 Aug 2026 09:40:01 EDT news704706258