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

Waste heat to green energy: New approach boosts thermoelectric generator efficiency

Thermoelectric generators that can convert waste heat to clean energy could soon be as efficient as other renewable energy sources, like solar, according to a team led by Penn State scientists.

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

A brain-inspired architecture for human gesture recognition

Researchers at Nanyang Technological University and University of Technology Sydney have recently developed a machine learning architecture that can recognize human gestures by analyzing images captured by stretchable strain ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

For next-generation semiconductors, 2-D tops 3-D

Netflix, which provides an online streaming service around the world, has 42 million videos and about 160 million subscribers in total. It takes just a few seconds to download a 30-minute video clip and you can watch a show ...

Engineering

New method helps keep an eye on electromagnetic coils degradation

Electromagnetic coils are widely used components in many applications and systems, including solenoids, motors and transformers. However, coil insulation systems are failure-prone, especially under excessive thermal stresses, ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Printed flexible electronics—one step closer to smart clothing

The researchers of the University of Oulu, together with their partners from VTT Research Center and Polar Electro, developed a new system of electrodes that can be implemented into our clothing and withstand our daily routines.

Engineering

Critical communications component made on a flexible wooden film

In the not-too-distant future, flexible electronics will open the door to new products like foldable phones, tablets that can be rolled, paper-thin displays and wearable sensors that monitor health data. Developing these ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

New technique may enable all-optical data-center networks

A new technique that synchronizes the clocks of computers in under a billionth of a second can eliminate one of the hurdles for the deployment of all-optical networks, potentially leading to more efficient data centers, according ...

Engineering

A deep-learned e-skin decodes complex human motion

A deep-learning powered single-strained electronic skin sensor can capture human motion from a distance. The single strain sensor placed on the wrist decodes complex five-finger motions in real time with a virtual 3-D hand ...