Electronics & Semiconductors news

Business

UK govt buys semiconductor facility key to defense

The UK government announced on Friday that it had acquired a key semiconductor factory after fears its imminent closure would hamper a crucial supply chain to Britain's armed forces.

Electronics & Semiconductors

Shape-morphing brain sensor adheres to curved surfaces for ultrasound neurostimulation

Transcranial focused ultrasound, a non-invasive technique to stimulate specific areas of the brain using high-frequency sound waves, could be a promising treatment strategy for many neurological disorders. Most notably, it ...

Engineering

Unique straining affects phase transformations in silicon, a material vital for electronics

When Valery Levitas left Europe in 1999, he packed up a rotational diamond anvil cell and brought it to the United States. He and the researchers in his group are still using a much-advanced version of that pressing, twisting ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

There's two sides to this semiconductor, and many simultaneous functions

Gallium nitride-based semiconductors have been a boon for high-frequency and power electronics. They've also revolutionized energy-efficient LED lighting. But no semiconductor wafer has been able to do both at the same time ...

Business

Chipmaker Qualcomm to explore takeover of Intel

Qualcomm Inc. has approached Intel Corp. to discuss a potential acquisition of the struggling chipmaker, people with knowledge of the matter said, raising the prospect of one of the biggest-ever M&A deals.

Engineering

Semi-metals offer new possibilities for electronic devices

Dr. Yuxuan Cosmi Lin, assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, and a team of researchers are studying the potential applications and unique physical properties of ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Multi-state data storage leaving binary behind

The total amount of data stored in data centers around the globe is of the order of ten zettabytes (a zettabyte is a trillion gigabytes), and we estimate that amount doubles every couple of years.

Engineering

Engineers print wearable sensors directly on skin without heat

Wearable sensors are evolving from watches and electrodes to bendable devices that provide far more precise biometric measurements and comfort for users. Now, an international team of researchers has taken the evolution one ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Engineering team develops novel miniaturized organic semiconductor

Field Effect Transistors (FET) are the core building blocks of modern electronics such as integrated circuits, computer CPUs and display backplanes. Organic Field Effect Transistors (OFETs), which use organic semiconductor ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Printing high-speed low-power organic transistors

For around 10 years, smartphones and computer screens have been based on a display technology composed of so-called thin film transistors. These are inorganic transistors that require very little power, and they have proven ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Squeezing light inside memory devices could help improve performance

Researchers have developed a method to 'squeeze' visible light in order to see inside tiny memory devices. The technique will allow researchers to probe how these devices break down and how their performance can be improved ...

Engineering

Novel sensor improves lighting control

Humans spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, for example at the office. Consequently, it is essential to equip the office environment with a high quality lighting control system. Unfortunately, current systems are ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Development of highly compact radar sensors for industry

Radar systems have long been used on aircraft or ships. Now, they are increasingly applied in cars for the 'short range' in particular. Thanks to the great progress achieved in semiconductor technology in the past years, ...

Engineering

How to bounce back from stretched out stretchable sensors

Elastic can stretch too far, which could be problematic for wearable sensors. A team of researchers at Yokohama National University has proposed a fix to prevent too much stretching while improving the sensing ability of ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Neural network for low-memory IoT devices

A scientist from Russia has developed a new neural network architecture and tested its learning ability on the recognition of handwritten digits. The intelligence of the network was amplified by chaos, and the classification ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Researchers develop smallest particle sensor in the world

TU Graz, AMSm, and Silicon Austria Labs have developed a compact, energy-efficient sensor for mobile devices that informs users in real time about the fine dust content in the air and warns them of elevated values.