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

Innovations offer peek into the future of electronic devices

Purdue University researchers—during the international IEDM 2016 conference the week of Dec. 5—showcased a range of concepts and technologies that foreshadow the future of the semiconductor industry.

Electronics & Semiconductors

Cybersecurity researchers design a chip that checks for sabotage

With the outsourcing of microchip design and fabrication worldwide, a $350 billion business, bad actors along the supply chain have many opportunities to install malicious circuitry in chips. These "Trojan horses" look harmless ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Chemical etching method helps transistors stand tall

Smaller and faster has been the trend for electronic devices since the inception of the computer chip, but flat transistors have gotten about as small as physically possible. For researchers pushing for even faster speeds ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

New method may find elusive flaws in medical implants and spacecraft

Medical implants and spacecraft can suddenly go dead, often for the same reason: cracks in ceramic capacitors, devices that store electric charge in electronic circuits. These cracks, at first harmless and often hidden, can ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Shedding light on the era of 'dark silicon'

Researchers at Lancaster University are racing against time to find smart solutions to the rapidly advancing era of 'dark silicon'.

Electronics & Semiconductors

Sony inspired by biomimicry develops curved CMOS sensors

Sony's advance in image sensors appears quite natural: the company has developed a set of curved CMOS image sensors based on the curvature of the eye. A report on the sensors in IEEE Spectrum said that, "in a bit of biomimicry," ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Applied Materials sets cobalt on path to future chips

When a global leader in providing equipment, services and software used for manufacturing semiconductors makes an announcement, industry players sit up and listen, as the technologies are going to impact market activity in ...