Electrical Properties Archives - Page 2 of 3

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

Cornell University researchers, Ithaca, N.Y., in collaboration with a team at the Polish Academy of Sciences, have developed the first dual-sided – or “dualtronic” – chip that combines photonic and electronic functions simultaneously, an innovation that could shrink the size of functional devices, make them more energy efficient and reduce manufacturing costs.

Ordered defects may be key for solution-deposited semiconductors

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign discovered that ordered defect pairs in solution-deposited semiconductors lead to record-high transistor performance, challenging conventional wisdom in semiconductor manufacturing.

Newly discovered role of phase separation: a game changer for AI memory tech

Researchers on a team led by University of Michigan unveiled that phase separation, alongside oxygen diffusion, crucially supports the long-term retention of information in memristors, specifically in resistive random access memory.

New chip may lead to AI computing at light speed

Engineers at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, developed a new chip that uses light waves rather than electricity to perform the complex math essential to training AI.

Oxford Instruments completed acquisition of FemtoTools AG

Oxford Instruments plc, United Kingdom, a leading provider of high technology products and services to industry and scientific research communities, completed the acquisition of FemtoTools AG, Switzerland. The acquisition was first announced on 11 June 2024, and has been completed following the satisfactory conclusion of closing conditions.

FemtoTools specializes in measuring and imaging the properties (primarily the hardness and stiffness) of materials for research and semiconductor applications at very high resolution via a technique called nanoindentation. It joins Oxford Instruments’ Imaging & Analysis division, where its products will be sold in conjunction with the Group’s existing range of materials analysis tools, including electron microscope micro-analyzers and Raman microscopes.

Richard Tyson, chief executive officer, Oxford Instruments plc, said: “We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of FemtoTools. We welcome our new colleagues and look forward to working with them to integrate nanoindentation – a new technique to Oxford Instruments – into our extensive portfolio of materials analysis capabilities.”

Christian Lang, managing director, Materials Analysis, Oxford Instruments plc, said: “We’re so pleased that the FemtoTools team have chosen to join Oxford Instruments. We’ve had a number of very positive meetings since the announcement and are already making plans for our future together.

“I’m looking forward to integrating FemtoTools’ brilliant technology into our wider product range, and to working with this talented group of people.”

Felix Beyeler, co-founder of FemtoTools, said: “The team and I are very excited for the journey ahead as part of Oxford Instruments. Working together will enable us to extend the reach of our technology and provide even richer analysis to our combined customer base. We’re also looking forward to learning from the hugely experienced Oxford Instruments team.”

For more information:
Oxford Instruments plc
https://www.oxinst.com

Kyocera introduces cutting-edge Peltier module with 21% increase in cooling performance

Kyocera Corporation, Japan, launched a new Peltier (thermoelectric) module that boasts a maximum heat absorption rate 21% higher than its conventional products, significantly enhancing cooling performance for applications such as automotive battery and seat temperature control.

Artificial intelligence helped scientists create a new type of battery

Researchers at Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash., used artificial intelligence to identify 23 promising battery materials from more than 32 million candidates in just 80 hours, creating a working prototype that could significantly reduce lithium use and advance sustainable energy storage solutions.

Pinpointing why promising cathodes fail

Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have discovered why and how one of the more promising cathode materials in lithium ion batteries – single crystalline nickel-rich lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide – degrades with use.

Computer vision method characterizes electronic material properties 85 times faster than conventional approach

A new computer vision technique developed by MIT engineers significantly speeds up the characterization of newly synthesized electronic materials.

Semiconductors are revolutionizing solar power

New research at the University of Kansas partially explains the exceptional performance of a new class of organic semiconductors called non-fullerene acceptors.

Chaco metamaterial paves the way for exciting applications in memory storage

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, N. M., and Tel Aviv University, Israel, have achieved a breakthrough in material science with the creation of “Chaco,” a revolutionary metamaterial named after the historical site Chaco Canyon in New Mexico.

POSTECH researchers maximize the efficiency of hafnia-based ferroelectric memory devices

Researchers at Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea, have significantly enhanced the data storage capacity of ferroelectric memory devices using hafnia-based ferroelectric materials and an innovative device structure.

Groundbreaking microcapacitors could power chips of the future

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif., developed microcapacitors with ultrahigh energy and power density, paving the way for on-chip energy storage in electronic devices.

TOPCon modules endure ‘significant degradation’ in damp heat testing compared to PERC

Scientists from the University of New South Wales published a report into passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) and tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar modules, finding that the latter has endured “significant degradation” in damp heat testing.

Henkel semiconductor capillary underfill enables complex AI and HPC large body advanced packaging designs

Henkel, Germany, released a semiconductor capillary underfill encapsulant to address the unique requirements of the market’s most demanding advanced packages, like those used in artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) applications.

Suicide chips could boost electronics security

Researchers at the University of Vermont developed microchips with a feature that combines anti-counterfeit with a function that causes them to self-destruct if an attempt is made to compromise them.

New candidate for universal memory is fast, low-power, stable and long-lasting

Researchers at Stanford University have demonstrated that a new material may make phase-change memory an improved option for future AI and data-centric systems.

Noninvasive technique tracks light through photonic circuits

Researchers at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel, have shown how to exploit the natural nonlinearity of silicon to track the propagation of light through a circuit to characterize a chip’s performance.

Sigray releases XADA-200 first commercial x-ray system for debugging backside power delivery circuits

Sigray, Concord, Calif., released the first commercial x-ray assisted device alteration tool that enables circuit debugging of emerging backside power delivery architectures.

An electrifying improvement in copper conductivity

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash., found that adding a small amount of solid carbon to copper boosts its ability to conduct electricity—industry applications abound.

New initiatives meet demand for semiconductor technology expertise

The Center for Harsh Environment Semiconductors and Systems is the first initiative of the university’s North Texas Semiconductor Institute.

Imec first to demonstrate conductor films on 300 mm wafers with lower resistivity than Cu and Ru

Imec, Belgium, a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, provided the first experimental evidence that the resistivity of a thin conductor film on a 300mm Si wafer can be lower than that of Cu and Ru, which are currently used in interconnect metallization schemes, marking a milestone towards enabling low-resistive interconnect with line widths below 10nm.

RoodMicrotec and SGA enter into cooperation for ASIC testing

RoodMicrotec, Netherlands, a leading independent company for semiconductors supply and quality services, and Svenska Grindmatriser AB, Sweden, a well-established fabless IDM for the development and supply of customized mixed-signal ASICs, started a cooperation for high-volume production testing of SGA’s ASIC products.

Stanford University sends semiconductor investigation to the International Space Station

Researchers from Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., sent an investigation to the space station to leverage microgravity to improve the synthesis of materials for photovoltaic devices designed to convert sunlight into electricity for solar energy applications.

With PowerVia, Intel achieves a chipmaking breakthrough

Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif., devised a process to manufacture, test, and demonstrate positive performance results with its new backside power solution called PowerVia, enabling chipmaking to go two-sided for the first time.

Plumbing the depths of thermoelectrics in search of novel materials

In the search for thermoelectric materials with the best possible properties, a research team at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) investigated various metallic alloys.

Accelerating sustainable semiconductors with ‘multielement ink’

Developed by researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley, a new semiconducting material called “multielement ink” is the first “high-entropy” semiconductor that can be processed at low or room temperature, making the semiconductor purification and development process significantly less heat-intensive and more sustainable.