https://techxplore.com/semiconductors-news/ en-us The latest news on electronics and semiconductor technology developments Over the past decades, electronics engineers have been trying to develop increasingly smaller and highly performing field effect transistors (FETs) with multiple functions. FETs are crucial components of most electronics on the market today, which can control the electrical current flowing through devices. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-reconfigurable-molybdenum-ditelluride-devices-multiple.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 05 Dec 2023 06:50:01 EST news620916637 By strategically straining materials that are as thin as a single layer of atoms, University of Rochester scientists have developed a new form of computing memory that is at once fast, dense, and low-power. The researchers outline their new hybrid resistive switches in a study published in Nature Electronics. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-hybrid-phase-change-memristors-possibilities.html Hardware Thu, 30 Nov 2023 12:11:43 EST news620568701 Conventional silicon architecture has taken computer vision a long way, but Purdue University researchers are developing an alternative path—taking a cue from nature—that they say is the foundation of an artificial retina. Like our own visual system, the device is geared to sense change, making it more efficient in principle than the computationally demanding digital camera systems used in applications like self-driving cars and autonomous robots. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-human-eye-boost-vision-efficiency.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 29 Nov 2023 12:27:51 EST news620483268 A University of Alberta engineering researcher has developed a wireless light switch that could reduce the cost of wiring a house by as much as 50%. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-wireless-house-wiring.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 28 Nov 2023 16:30:13 EST news620411411 To reach the world's goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, there must be a fundamental change in electronic materials to create a more reliable and resilient electricity grid. A diamond might be a girl's best friend, but it might also be the solution needed to sustain the electrification of society needed to reach carbon neutrality in the next 30 years. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-generation-semiconductors-diamond-device-highest.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 27 Nov 2023 17:13:04 EST news620327582 An ultra-thin wearable device capable of reproducing the localized sensation of touch had been developed at the Center for Materials Interfaces of the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology, IIT), in Pontedera, Italy. The technology is described in a recent paper published in the journal Advanced Electronic Materials. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-ultra-thin-tattoo-tactile-sensation.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 27 Nov 2023 16:11:04 EST news620323858 Researchers led by Prof. Ray-Hua Horng, a leading expert in semiconductor device technology at Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU), Hsinchu, Taiwan, China have published a research paper titled "Study on the performance of thin-film VCSELs on composite metal substrate" in the journal Frontiers of Optoelectronics. This work introduces innovative methods that are poised to reshape the landscape of semiconductor technology. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-thin-film-vcsels-composite-metal-substrate.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 27 Nov 2023 10:30:02 EST news620303401 Compared with traditional artificial neural networks, spiking neural networks (SNN) are more biologically authentic, more powerful, and less power-consuming due to their spatiotemporal coding and event-driven characteristics. In recent years, optical computing has been widely considered as a hardware acceleration platform, where nonlinear computing poses a challenge. Photonic SNN provides an ultra-fast and energy-efficient platform for high-performance neuromorphic computing. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-multi-synaptic-photonic-spiking-neural-networks.html Electronics & Semiconductors Fri, 24 Nov 2023 12:07:03 EST news620050021 The University of Ottawa, together with national and international partners, has achieved a world first by manufacturing the first back-contact micrometric photovoltaic cells. The cells, with a size twice the thickness of a strand of hair, have significant advantages over conventional solar technologies, reducing electrode-induced shadowing by 95% and potentially lowering energy production costs by up to three times. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-back-contact-micrometric-photovoltaic-cells.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 22 Nov 2023 12:37:37 EST news619879055 Machine learning (ML) is generally defined as data-driven technology mimicking intelligent human abilities, which bit by bit upgrades its accuracy from experience. It starts with gathering massive amounts of data, such as numbers, texts, images and so on. After training with the data, ML algorithms build a logical model to identify patterns through the least possible human intervention. With the help of sample training data, programmers test the model's validity before introducing a new dataset. The more training data, the better the prediction. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-machines-metal-oxide-semiconductor-capacitors.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 22 Nov 2023 09:57:00 EST news619869413 Nvidia on Tuesday reported that its revenue more than tripled in the recently ended quarter as companies snapped up chips to power artificial intelligence (AI). https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-nvidia-revenue-rockets-demand-powerful.html Business Wed, 22 Nov 2023 04:58:48 EST news619851526 Within the Research Project PV-MoVe, researchers at the Fraunhofer IEE investigated how to use active switching loss reduction networks for power semiconductors to enable smaller, more lightweight, and more cost-efficient photovoltaic converters. Using newly developed additional circuitry, switching frequencies for a 50 kW PV inverter could be increased by a factor of 2.5–3 for the DC input stage and by a factor of 10–12.5 for the inverter output stage. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-photovoltaic-size-weight-higher-frequencies.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 21 Nov 2023 11:01:04 EST news619786862 In the course of the transition to e-mobility, range and charging times are becoming increasingly important for more and more people. That's why possibilities for faster charging are of ever-greater interest. Quick charging and charging large batteries require a lot of power. However, manufacturing costs for these high-powered devices remain very high today. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-quick-charging-devices.html Electronics & Semiconductors Thu, 16 Nov 2023 16:20:06 EST news619374001 Researchers from Binghamton University and Northeastern University have found a way to improve the tiny sensors used in everything from cellphones and smart watches to biomedical devices. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-mechanical-microsensors.html Engineering Wed, 15 Nov 2023 15:40:03 EST news619285201 Amidst the ongoing surge in demand for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), wearable/implantable electronics, miniaturized portable devices and the Internet of Things, the pursuit of piezoelectric materials has become a priority interest for many because they intrinsically couple mechanical and electrical energy. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-scientists-low-cost-multifunctional-microprinter-ultrafast.html Engineering Wed, 15 Nov 2023 09:30:01 EST news619262863 Transistors are crucial electronic components that regulate, amplify and control the flow of current inside most existing devices. In recent years, electronics engineers have been trying to identify materials and design strategies that could help to further improve the performance of transistors, while also reducing their size. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-circuits-based-2d-semiconductor-ghz.html Engineering Tue, 14 Nov 2023 06:50:01 EST news619091876 As information and communication technologies (ICT) process data, they convert electricity into heat. Already today, the global ICT ecosystem's CO2 footprint rivals that of aviation. It turns out, however, that a big part of the energy consumed by computer processors doesn't go into performing calculations. Instead, the bulk of the energy used to process data is spent shuttling bytes between the memory to the processor. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-2d-semiconductor-transistors-redefining-energy.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 13 Nov 2023 11:00:02 EST news619090313 In recent years, electronics engineers have been trying to identify materials that could help to shrink the size of transistors without compromising their performance and energy efficiency. Low-dimensional semiconductors, solid-state superconducting materials with fewer than three spatial dimensions, could help to achieve this. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-carbon-nanotubebased-mosfets-doped-scalable.html Engineering Fri, 10 Nov 2023 06:50:01 EST news618747768 A research team led by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed a microprinter that can print piezoelectric films 100 times faster for the production of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for sensors, wearable or implantable medical devices, offering the possibility to lower the mass production costs. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-low-cost-multifunctional-microprinter-ultrafast-piezoelectric.html Engineering Thu, 09 Nov 2023 10:23:12 EST news618747789 Computer simulations can greatly contribute to the study of new promising materials for technological applications. These include so-called phase-change materials (PCMs), substances that release or absorb thermal energy while melting and solidifying, which are promising for the development of memory components. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-machine-learningbased-tool-phase-change-memory.html Electronics & Semiconductors Thu, 09 Nov 2023 10:00:23 EST news618746413 A research team from the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has been delving into the iridium L-band downlink burst transmissions to explore their potential as Signals of Opportunity (SoOP) for navigation. Their findings were published in Electronics Letters. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-uncovers-potential-iridium-l-band-transmission.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 08 Nov 2023 14:47:03 EST news618677223 For more than 50 years, the semiconductor industry has been hard at work developing advanced technologies that have led to the amazing increases in computing power and energy efficiency that have improved our lives. A primary way the industry has achieved these remarkable performance gains has been by finding ways to decrease the size of the semiconductor devices in microchips. However, with semiconductor feature sizes now approaching only a few nanometers—just a few hundred atoms—it has become increasingly challenging to sustain continued device miniaturization. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-photoresist-materials-pave-smaller-high.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 08 Nov 2023 12:40:24 EST news618669620 Magnetic random-access memories (MRAMs) are data storage devices that store digital data within nanomagnets, representing it in binary code (i.e., as "0" or "1"). The magnetization of nanomagnets inside these memory devices can be directed upward or downward. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-field-free-commercial-pma-ferromagnet-room.html Engineering Wed, 08 Nov 2023 11:30:02 EST news618661728 The widespread use of electronic devices to interact with others and access the internet has increased the need for highly performing communication technologies that can transmit data faster and more efficiently. Increasing the data transmission rate of devices without adversely impacting their energy efficiency, however, is a challenging task. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-energy-efficient-transmitter-based-cmos.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 07 Nov 2023 12:10:01 EST news618575365 In biological systems, complex neuronal networks with highly polarized synaptic gating interfaces are responsible for processing and transmitting intricate biosignals. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-scientists-method-electronic-to-multi-ionic-transmission.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 07 Nov 2023 09:29:13 EST news618571751 The generation of electricity from the human body may not be a superpower at all; rather, it appears to be a commonplace occurrence. Recent research conducted by a POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) team looks at enhancing the efficiency of a thermo-electrochemical cells capable of generating electricity from the human body's natural temperature. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-thermo-electrochemical-cell-efficiency.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 06 Nov 2023 15:41:24 EST news618507681 Merit analysis is a vital element of the scientific process, ensuring that research is based on rigorous evidence and sound methodology. It enables scientific advancement, boosts credibility, quality and reliability for future research. It allows a research community to build a common language, common practices and common logic. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-team-usual-electronics.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 06 Nov 2023 10:19:04 EST news618488342 The molecular structure of organic semiconductors is key to the outdoor stability of organic solar cells. Molecular-level insight into one family of organic solar cell materials, known as Y-series nonfullerene acceptors (Y-NFAs), could help enhance their outdoor stability. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-stability-sustainable-outdoor-solar-cells.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 06 Nov 2023 10:10:06 EST news618487801 In a recent study published in Advanced Energy Materials, a team of ANSTO scientists, led by Prof. Vanessa Peterson, used neutron scattering techniques to understand the formation of harmful lithium structures in rechargeable lithium ion batteries (LIBs). https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-catastrophic-failure-lithium-ion-batteries.html Electronics & Semiconductors Fri, 03 Nov 2023 11:45:03 EDT news618230701 Transparent conductors are essential for many devices, such as touch screens and solar cells. Copper iodide (CuI) can conduct electricity while staying see-through but is not as good as some other materials. Researchers from the University of Twente managed to improve the conductivity of CuI while keeping 75% of its transparency. By adding a tiny bit of sulfur, their new material moves us one step closer to fully transparent electronic devices. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-efficient-p-type-transparent-conductors.html Electronics & Semiconductors Thu, 02 Nov 2023 17:05:08 EDT news618163504