Energy & Green Tech

A blast of gas for better solar cells

Treating silicon with carbon dioxide gas in plasma processing brings simplicity and control to a key step for making solar cells.

Engineering

Coffee stains inspire optimal printing technique for electronics

Have you ever spilled your coffee on your desk? You may then have observed one of the most puzzling phenomena of fluid mechanics—the coffee ring effect. This effect has hindered the industrial deployment of functional inks ...

Energy & Green Tech

Searching for the secret to more efficient solar cells

The search for the perfect solar cell is not yet over. Norwegian researchers are now adopting a new approach to the cells' raw material, crystalline silicon, with the aim of making the electricity-generating cells even more ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Carbon nanotube transistors make the leap from lab to factory floor

Carbon nanotube transistors are a step closer to commercial reality, now that MIT researchers have demonstrated that the devices can be made swiftly in commercial facilities, with the same equipment used to manufacture the ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Engineers mix and match materials to make new stretchy electronics

At the heart of any electronic device is a cold, hard computer chip, covered in a miniature city of transistors and other semiconducting elements. Because computer chips are rigid, the electronic devices that they power, ...

Robotics

New cell-sized micro robots might make incredible journeys

Researchers have harnessed the latest nanofabrication techniques to create bug-shaped robots that are wirelessly powered, able to walk, able to survive harsh environments and tiny enough to be injected through an ordinary ...

page 4 from 5