Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a technique to create a multilayered chip with alternating layers of high-quality semiconducting material grown directly on top of one another.
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To address future energy needs, the Department of Energy Office of Science has announced the creation of three new Microelectronics Science Research Centers. One of these, the Microelectronics Energy Efficiency Research Center for Advanced Technologies (MEERCAT), will focus on energy efficiency by exploring solutions that integrate sensing, edge processing, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing. Sandia National Laboratories will be a founding member of MEERCAT and will lead one of its eight energy efficiency-related research projects.
The other two centers will work on resilience in extreme environments, including high-radiation, cryogenic and high magnetic field environments.
“Our center will provide industry with new, higher performance options for energy-efficient computing,” said Nelson, the principal investigator for the Sandia-led project.
Sandia is also partnering on two projects led by other laboratories: one on energy efficiency with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and another on extreme environments with Los Alamos National Laboratory.
AI is a major factor in rising energy demand because it uses more energy than conventional computer algorithms and has seen a surge in popularity within homes and workplaces. Along with the growth of other energy-intensive technologies like quantum computing and advanced sensors, this has created an urgent need for more efficient technologies.
The three new research centers will provide a total of $179 million for 16 multidisciplinary, fundamental research projects lasting up to four years. They are funded through DOE’s Office of Science and authorized by the Micro Act, passed in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. This legislation has invested billions of dollars through multiple agencies to help companies build new plants for advanced semiconductors in the U.S. It also funds fundamental research to advance the technologies these future factories will produce.
“We are working with companies to understand their problems and pulling experts together from across the DOE to solve these problems quickly,” Nelson said.
When the Energy Department announced its plan to form Microelectronics Science Research Centers in May 2024, Nelson reached out to a familiar team.
Two years earlier, a group of directors and experts from DOE’s five scientific user facilities, the Nanoscale Science Research Centers, had started holding regular, collaborative discussions.
“We met every two weeks for two years,” Nelson said. “We discussed our collective resources and how we can work together to achieve national priorities.”
Nelson is the director of one of these Office of Science user facilities, the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, which is jointly operated by Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories. The other four user facilities: the Center for Nanoscale Materials, the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, The Molecular Foundry and the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences are spread across the country, each co-located at a national lab.
The team agreed that by working together they could advance new materials to make computing more powerful and energy-efficient.
Researchers had already found that materials like molybdenum disulfide, gallium arsenide and even diamond may be better than silicon for certain aspects of computing. In theory, computer chips made from one of these alternative materials might be far more energy-efficient and could solve the looming energy crisis.
“They’re very promising,” Nelson said.
But the task of taking any of these materials, perfecting them in a lab, learning how to mass produce them and then building a factory to make chips from them while competing against an established silicon industry and supply chain, the team agreed, felt daunting at best.
Taking a different route, the group of lab leads and other collaborators proposed a project entitled “Nano-Scale Research Center for Heterogeneous Integration Platforms.” This project would aim to leverage the existing infrastructure and expertise of the DOE user facilities and partnering institutions and develop ways to insert new materials into standard silicon fabrication processes.
Now greenlit with DOE’s recent announcement, the project will bring together resources from all five Nanoscale Science Research Centers. It will also include researchers from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
They will build on previous research in what scientists call heterogeneous integration. This means using many kinds of materials to make computer chips, all monolithically integrated into a silicon backbone. The tricky part is to ensure electrons and information flow seamlessly between different materials.
Sandia and its collaborators are aiming for breakthroughs that could help industry create much more energy-efficient computer chips.
“By collaborating across multiple national laboratories and universities, our goal is really to accelerate the innovation discovery process and make a positive impact on economic and national security,” Nelson said.
For more information: Sandia National Laboratories
Image: The Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, pictured here, is one of five Department of Energy Nanoscale Science Research Centers teaming up to help make computer chips more energy-efficient.
In a new study, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science, led by Professor Daniel Wagner, demonstrate how design principles from ancient creatures like scorpions and sponges can enhance the resilience of human-made materials, promoting sustainable design. Professor Wagner explains that natural materials have evolved over millions of years in resource-limited and harsh environments, inherently developing sustainable structures such as trees, plants, bones, and skeletons.
“In this respect, durability is key,” says study coauthor Dr. Israel Greenfeld. “Living organisms, for example, display a variety of specialized strategies to deal with outside forces while expending the least amount of energy – which is why there is so much to be learned from nature, as we try to develop stronger and longer-lasting materials of our own.”
Improved, efficient materials offer an important avenue toward a more sustainable future because they can lead to less waste and a reduced need for fuel. But any attempt to enhance an advantageous property of a material tends to come at the expense of another of its attributes. Increasing strength, for instance, will typically lead to increased weight or decreased flexibility.
“Nature, it turns out, finds amazing ways to optimize the balance,” Greenfeld says. One optimization feature found in a variety of tough organic substances is laminate construction: materials composed of different substances layered or interlaced together. This type of composite material often exhibits strength and resilience, while maintaining other beneficial properties, such as being lightweight and flexible.
Wagner and Greenfeld examined two natural laminates that show an exceptional degree of toughness: the outer shell, or cuticle, of a scorpion and the inner skeleton, or spicule, of a sea sponge. The researchers found that the secret of their resilience lies in grading, a specialized strategy that is rarely found in human-made materials: a gradual change in properties from one layer to another.
In both creatures, the different layers vary in thickness, and in the scorpion’s shell, they also decrease in stiffness from exterior to interior, so that the surface facing the harsh world the scorpion inhabits has greater resilience than its shell’s interior. In fact, the researchers’ study of the scorpion – which built on the work commenced at Weizmann by Dr. Israel Kellersztein, a former student on Wagner’s team – showed that the organism’s complex shell is a composite constructed from eight different structural levels.
In both the scorpion and the sponge, a subtle yet powerful “reshuffling” or rearranging of laminate layers was found to serve as a biological tradeoff between conflicting properties, helping them withstand the types of stress they are typically up against.
Thanks to grading, the scorpion’s shell and the sponge’s skeleton, while being tough and strong, are particularly good at resisting cracks. Even though they differ in terms of chemical composition and structure, both optimize this resistance using the same principle: fracture deflection. This means that in both organisms, cracks are mitigated by diverting their path. As soon as a crack starts emerging in the material, it is “encouraged” by the material’s graded structure to change course and run parallel to the surface, rather than go deeper, where it would likely cause more massive structural damage, potentially leading to catastrophic collapse.
To better understand how grading works in both organisms, the researchers adapted a model from classical fracture mechanics, the field that deals with how things break. The model showed that without grading, obtaining the same resilience in both the scorpion and the sponge would have required more wasteful measures, such as thicker components. It also showed that resilience is improved by shifting more material to structural regions that are more critical in terms of durability.
The researchers didn’t stop there. They showed how, in bioinspired materials, grading could be used in ways that nature hadn’t yet come up with. “Using this model, we were able to shift around the grading levels in ways that the scorpion and the sponge hadn’t quite ‘thought’ of,” says Greenfeld.
Greenfeld and Wagner point out that importing concepts such as grading into human-made designs is highly challenging. “For humans, such design is innovative,” says Greenfeld. “Biological structures are created bottom-up – from tiny, nano-metric building blocks, to microscopic structures, and onward to larger and larger structures – whereas in engineering, one usually doesn’t start at the molecular level.”
Still, while the scorpion’s structure is especially complex, other natural microstructures, such as that of the sea sponge, can be more readily applied in engineering. In the sponge’s skeleton, for example, apart from grading, cracks are slowed down or stopped by the fact that brittle layers are interspersed with minute amounts of softer layers. “It’s a ceramic, it’s basically made of silica, not the type of material you usually expect to display strong fracture resistance,” Wagner says.
A better understanding of the strategies found in natural composite materials, explain the researchers, could help engineers optimize our own human-made composites, a wide family of materials that ranges from the ubiquitous cement to specialized fiber-reinforced laminates used in aerospace industries.
The scorpion cuticle is hair-thin – about 0.1mm thick, comprising some 20 layers made of many nested Bouligands. A Bouligand is a twisted helical structure consisting of about 100 nanolayers that are each 50 nanometers thick. A single nanolayer is built of 5 nanometer-thick chitin-protein fibrils, collected into fibers.
Wagner and Greenfeld, who have been working together for over a decade, come from different professional backgrounds. Wagner has long conducted basic research into the micromechanics of biological composite materials and of human-made nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene. Greenfeld, meanwhile, has enjoyed a career in aviation engineering, a field where efficiency is key. He also draws from different fields of material use, from structural design to systems engineering and invention. “Coming from the world of hands-on creation, Dr. Greenfeld brings a different perspective to our lab – and we both benefit from the collaboration,” Wagner says.
“Our work is not about copying, exactly,” he adds. “It’s about being inspired by nature’s designs.”
“How to use this inspiration depends, of course, on one’s engineering goals, but it’s also about expanding the horizons of what one can do with engineering,” says Greenfeld.
For more information: Scientific Reports
A research team led by Professors Zhiqin Chu and Yuan Lin at the University of Hong Kong, in collaboration with Professors Kwai Hei Li and Qi Wang, has developed a groundbreaking method for producing ultrathin and ultra-flexible diamond membranes. These membranes are compatible with current semiconductor manufacturing processes, allowing their integration into various applications, including electronic, photonic, mechanical, acoustic, and quantum devices.
The team’s innovative edge-exposed exfoliation method allows for the rapid, scalable production of free-standing diamond membranes. This technique surpasses traditional methods, which are typically expensive, time-consuming, and limited in size. Notably, the new process can produce a two-inch diamond wafer in just 10 seconds, setting a new benchmark for efficiency and scalability in the field.
These ultra-flat diamond surfaces, essential for high-precision micromanufacturing, along with the flexibility of the membranes, open up new possibilities for next-generation flexible and wearable electronic and photonic devices. The research team envisions significant industrial applications in electronics, photonics, mechanics, thermics, acoustics, and quantum technologies.
“We hope to promote the usage of the high-figure-of-merit diamond membrane in various fields, and to commercialize this cutting-edge technology and deliver premium diamond membranes, setting a new standard in the semiconductor industry. We are eager to collaborate with academic and industry partners to bring this revolutionary product to market and accelerate the arrival of the diamond era,” concluded Professor Chu.
Diamonds, renowned globally as valuable gemstones, possess exceptional versatility in various scientific and engineering applications. They are the hardest natural material, boasting unparalleled thermal conductivity at room temperature, extremely high carrier mobility, dielectric breakdown strength, an ultrawide bandgap, and optical transparency spanning from the infrared to the deep-ultraviolet spectrum. These remarkable properties make diamonds ideal for fabricating advanced high-power, high-frequency electronic devices, photonic devices, and heat spreaders to cool high-power-density electronic components, such as those in processors, semiconductor lasers, and electric vehicles. However, the inert nature and rigid crystal structure of diamonds pose significant challenges in fabrication and mass production, particularly for ultrathin and freestanding diamond membranes, thereby restricting their widespread usage.
For more information: Nature
Fort Wayne Metals, Ind., announced that it has developed HHS tube, an innovative product with a highly customizable structure designed to meet the specific functional requirements of various medical applications. This advancement is intended to address the increasing demand for versatile and reliable metal tubing in devices such as endovascular tools, minimally invasive instruments, neurological components, and urological devices.
HHS tube stands out from conventional tubing due to its ability to be tailored to precise specifications. The product can be manufactured in single, two, or three-layer stranded configurations, with customization options that include inner and outer diameters, wire count and size, pitch direction, and overall length. Inner diameters range from 80 µm to 2.2 mm, while outer diameters span 0.13 mm to 4 mm, allowing it to meet a wide variety of customer requirements.
The versatility of HHS tube makes it suitable for a broad range of applications. For example, neurological stimulation devices require thin, flexible filaments to navigate small and complex areas, while vascular tools demand elongation and compressive strength to deliver instruments to targeted sites. Endoscopy devices benefit from the tube’s ability to provide rotational control in navigating the body. Each configuration of the HHS tube is engineered to meet the specific functional demands of the application.
Fort Wayne Metals also offers custom finishing options to streamline the supply chain for its customers. These include custom fittings, terminations, Nitinol coatings, and specialized parts to support seamless integration into final medical device assemblies. This capability underscores the company’s commitment to meeting the evolving needs of the medical sector.
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Norman Noble, Highland Heights, Ohio, announced advancements in its laser welding technology to support the precise manufacturing needs of next-generation medical implants and devices. The company’s state-of-the-art fiber laser systems are engineered to deliver exceptional power and positioning accuracy, resulting in highly precise and repeatable welds.
The enhanced laser welding capabilities enable superior joint integrity for complex geometries, with optimized parameters for weld penetration, width, and positioning. These processes are rigorously developed and tested to meet stringent tensile and fatigue requirements for thin-walled and miniature components, while minimizing visual imperfections in the welds.
Jeff Miller, laser process development manager at Norman Noble, emphasized the company’s ability to weld various materials in intricate applications, such as Nitinol-to-Nitinol joints in orthopedic implants and platinum marker welding for stent-like devices. He highlighted the team’s expertise in creating custom solutions tailored to complex medical device manufacturing.
Norman Noble’s ongoing investment in laser technology, including custom fixturing to ensure alignment and repeatability, reinforces its position as a trusted partner for original equipment manufacturers requiring high-quality components in the medical sector.
Read further here.
The Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and several collaborating institutions have successfully demonstrated a machine-learning technique to accelerate discovery of materials for film capacitors and used it to screen a library of nearly 50,000 chemical structures to identify and synthesize a compound with record-breaking performance.
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Penn State researchers have discovered that “atomic spray painting” of potassium niobate can precisely manipulate a material’s properties by altering its atomic arrangement, potentially leading to environmentally friendly innovations in consumer electronics, medical devices, and quantum computing.
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Researchers have discovered a method to make quantum computing more compact, potentially shrinking essential components by 1,000 times and requiring less equipment. Current quantum computers rely on entangled photons produced by shining a laser on millimeter-thick crystals, but this setup is too large for integration into a computer chip.
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have addressed this issue by producing entangled photon pairs using much thinner materials, just 1.2 micrometers thick, without needing additional optical gear to maintain the link, thereby simplifying the overall setup.
“Our novel method to create entangled photon pairs paves the way for making quantum optical entanglement sources much smaller, which will be critical for applications in quantum information and photonic quantum computing,” said NTU’s Professor Gao Weibo who led the researchers.
He added that the method could scale down the size of devices for quantum applications because many of these devices currently need large and bulky optical equipment, which are cumbersome to align, before they can work.
Quantum computers are expected to revolutionize the approach to many challenges, from helping us better understand climate change to finding new drugs faster by completing complex computations and quickly finding patterns in large data sets. For instance, calculations that would take supercomputers today millions of years to resolve could be done within minutes by quantum computers.
This is expected to happen because quantum computers perform many computations simultaneously instead of doing them one at a time like standard computers.
Quantum computers can do so as they perform calculations using tiny switches called quantum bits, or qubits, that can be in both the on and off position simultaneously. It is akin to flipping a coin in the air, with the spinning coin in a state between heads and tails. In contrast, standard computers use switches that can be on or off at any time, but not both.
Photons can be used as qubits for quantum computers to perform faster calculations as they can have on and off states at the same time. But being in two states simultaneously only happens if the photons are produced in a pair, with one photon linked, or entangled, to the other. An important condition for entanglement is that the paired photons need to vibrate in sync.
One advantage of using photons as qubits is that they can be produced and entangled at room temperature. Relying on photons can thus be easier, cheaper, and more practical than using other particles like electrons that need ultra-low temperatures close to the coldness of outer space before they can be used for quantum computing.
Researchers have been trying to find thinner materials to produce linked pairs of photons so that they can be worked into computer chips. However, one challenge is that when materials get thinner, they produce photons at a much lower rate, which is impractical for computing.
Recent advances showed that a promising new crystalline material called niobium oxide dichloride, which has unique optical and electronic properties, can produce pairs of photons efficiently despite its thinness. But these photon pairs are useless for quantum computers because they are not entangled when produced.
A solution was found by NTU scientists led by Professor Gao, from the University’s School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering and School of Physical & Mathematical Sciences, in collaboration with Professor Liu Zheng from the School of Materials Science & Engineering.
Professor Gao’s solution was inspired by an established method to create entangled pairs of photons with thicker and bulkier crystalline materials, which was published in 1999. It involves stacking two flakes of thick crystals together and positioning the crystalline grains of each flake perpendicularly to each other.
However, the vibrations of photons produced in a pair can still be out of sync due to how they travel within the thick crystals after they are created. Additional optical equipment is therefore needed to synchronize the photon pairs to maintain the link between the light particles.
Professor Gao theorized that a similar two-crystal set-up could be used with two thin crystal flakes of niobium oxide dichloride, with a combined thickness of 1.2 micrometers, to produce the linked photons without requiring extra optical instruments.
He expected this to happen because the flakes used are much thinner than the bulkier crystals from earlier studies. As a result, the pairs of photons produced travel a smaller distance within the niobium oxide dichloride flakes, so the light particles remain in sync with each other. Experiments by the NTU Singapore team proved that his hunch was correct.
Professor Sun Zhipei from Finland’s Aalto University, who specializes in photonics and was not involved in NTU’s research, said that entangled photons are like synchronized clocks that show the same time no matter how far apart they are and can thus enable instant communication.
He added that the NTU team’s method for generating quantum entangled photons “is a major advancement, potentially enabling the miniaturization and integration of quantum technologies.”
“This development has potential in advancing quantum computing and secure communication, as it allows for more compact, scalable, and efficient quantum systems,” said Professor Sun, a co-principal investigator at the Research Council of Finland’s Center of Excellence in Quantum Technology.
The NTU team plans to further optimize the design of their setup to generate even more linked pairs of photons than are currently possible.
Some ideas include exploring whether introducing tiny patterns and grooves on the surface of niobium oxide dichloride flakes can increase the number of photon pairs produced. Another one will examine whether stacking the niobium oxide dichloride flakes with other materials can boost photon production.
For more information: Nature Photonics
Image: PhD student Leevi Kallioniemi from NTU Singapore’s School of Physical & Mathematical Sciences with a blue laser set-up for generating entangled photon pairs. Credit: NTU Singapore
A team of scientists led by Associate Professor Nripan Mathews from NTU’s School of Materials Science and Engineering has successfully synthesized four groundbreaking types of perovskites, with Dr. Ayan Zhumekenov pioneering a unique method by incorporating dimethyl carbonate—a non-toxic solvent—into methylammonium-based perovskite crystals.
By examining the new crystal structures, the researchers found they could modify the band gap, which determines the material’s color and represents the energy needed for an electron to escape its bound state and achieve conductivity, by varying the proportions of methylammonium and dimethyl carbonate within the materials.
The capability to manipulate the width of the band gap is crucial for the diverse uses of perovskites. The newly developed 2D halide perovskites also demonstrate a dynamic “switchable” property.
The researchers discovered that one of the perovskites can alternate between two color states, transitioning from orange to red when subjected to a temperature of 80 degrees Celsius and returning to its initial color upon cooling back to room temperature.
The scientists showed that this color-changing reaction could be repeated for up to 25 cycles. This thermochromic switching phenomenon presents opportunities for applications such as smart coatings and heat-sensitive inks that alter color at varying temperatures.
The researchers are optimistic that their breakthrough will lead to technological advancements involving 2D halide perovskites in optoelectronics and other fields.
For more information: Journal of the American Chemical Society
Image: NTU’s novel perovskites. Credit: NTU.
Researchers at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, have successfully demonstrated a groundbreaking zero-gravity 3D printing technology using electrohydrodynamic printing and nanoink, paving the way for on-demand manufacturing and electronics repair in space.
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Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories and Bucknell University, have found that insight from muscovite mica and earthquake statistics can help quantify how hostile environmental interactions impact the degradation of materials used in advanced solar panels, geological carbon sequestration, and infrastructure.
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A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Washington, D.C., analyzes the causes of the 2020 collapse of the National Science Foundation’s telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, where NSF maintained research operations for its National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, and draws lessons learned for other unique, critical science facilities.
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Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, Mass., has highlighted the ability of scanning electron microscopy to successfully capture defects when conducting failure analysis on metals.
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In a significant move to streamline mechanical testing and enhance material insights, Airbus, France, the global aerospace leader, is collaborating with Plastometrex, England, to support the standardization of profilometry-based indentation plastometry (PIP) – the innovative mechanical testing technique developed and commercialized by the Cambridge-based technology provider.
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In order to overcome a fundamental limit of silicon semiconductor technology that prevents transistors from operating below a certain voltage, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers fabricated a different type of three-dimensional transistor using a unique set of ultrathin semiconductor materials.
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HORIBA STEC, Co., Ltd., Japan, released the fully automated thin film inspection system, Xtrology, that combines spectroscopic ellipsometry, Raman spectroscopy, and photoluminescence sensors making it possible to perform important inspections, such as film thickness measurement, defect analysis, and composition analysis of various wafers with a single instrument.
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NenoVision, Czech Republic, a leading innovator in advanced microscopy solutions, has been honored with the esteemed R&D 100 Award in the Analytical/Test category for its AFM-in-SEM LiteScope technology.
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A team of researchers at Ames National Laboratory, Ames, Iowa, has made significant progress in understanding how surface oxides, a primary cause of decoherence in quantum circuits, can improve the performance of quantum computing circuits.
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Researchers at the University of Minnesota have achieved a new artificially designed material that allows electrons to move faster while remaining transparent to both visible and ultraviolet light, breaking the previous record and being pivotal in making the next generation of high-power electronics faster, transparent and more efficient.
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Using a custom-built machine to launch microprojectiles at supersonic speeds, Cornell researchers, Ithaca, N.Y., have uncovered new details about how high-speed metallic collisions can form strong, durable atomic bonds, offering insights that could enhance 3D printing and other manufacturing techniques.
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Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee are leveraging advanced manufacturing techniques, such as Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Powder Metallurgy and Additive Manufacturing, to produce parts weighing over 4,500 kg. ORNL highlights the urgent need for these large-scale components across various sectors, including aerospace, defense, nuclear, oil, gas, renewables, and construction. This demand is particularly pressing in the US, where traditional manufacturing methods like casting and forging have declined and moved overseas, leading to supply-chain shortages.
Senior research scientists Jason Mayeur and Soumya Nag are hoping to add Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), hybrid manufacturing, in-situ monitoring and advanced computational modeling to HIP technology to create molds faster and more accurately whilst leveraging the PM technology American manufacturers may be more acquainted with.
“PM-HIP is a vital pathway for diversifying the supply chain for producing large-scale metal parts that are becoming more difficult to source via conventional means,” Mayeur explained. “The technology is of particular interest to the nuclear and hydroelectric industrial sectors, as well as the Department of Defense.”
In contrast with traditional casting and forging techniques, PM-HIP involves fabricating pre-formed, hollow molds for each large-scale component and filling them with metal powder. Once the additively manufactured mold (aka a ‘can’ or ‘capsule’) receives an initial seal, any gas remaining inside is pumped out. Then, a more permanent hermetic seal is applied.
At this point, the capsule is heated and pressurized in prescribed cycles within a Hot Isostatic Press (essentially a pressurized furnace). Without melting, these cycles facilitate the consolidation of the metal powder into the required shape in a process exchange of heat and pressure known as solid-state bonding. When bonding is complete, acid leaching or machining is used to remove the exterior can, revealing the intended part.
Jason Mayeur works in the Deposition Science and Technology Group at ORNL, where he applies his knowledge in computational solid mechanics to manufacturing challenges. His two-decade research career began with the use of computational models to understand the relationships between materials microstructure and performance. He has since segued into the analysis of the structural material performance of metals and alloys.
In this arena, Mayeur develops theory, writes code to implement his theories, and then performs simulations of solids under various loading conditions to determine their suitability for use in a variety of applications. In short, Mayeur’s code can be used to improve the PM-HIP process, thus making it a more attractive alternative to traditional casting and forging.
Soumya Nag, Mayeur’s colleague at ORNL, works in the Materials Science and Technology Division, applying his own two decades of research experience in materials and manufacturing. Nag is a metallurgist with expertise in evaluating lightweight, high-temperature structural alloys fabricated via conventional and advanced manufacturing techniques.
“Jason is an expert in predictive modeling of deformation characteristics of Hot Isostatic Pressing canisters. I am more involved in the experimental side of things. Jason and I complement each other, and really, our two efforts are very much intertwined and critical toward the overall success of the task,” Nag said.
Nag’s research centers on the processing and materials science of HIP capsule fabrication, using various additive manufacturing techniques and assessing the quality of the resulting component parts.
“Additive Manufacturing offers unique design flexibility, which, combined with the reliability of PM-HIP, can pave the path toward precise manufacturing of large-scale, custom and complex, energy-related parts while also taking advantage of multi-material builds,” he explained.
Nag collaborates with Mayeur to design and perform experiments that characterize the metal powder material’s behavior and its mechanical properties in pursuit of a better, more accurate build while providing the necessary material property inputs for Mayeur’s computational models.
Mayeur’s work targets many technological challenges posed by the PM-HIP process, striving for quality and consistency in geometry to achieve dimensional accuracy at a very large scale. One challenge is shrinkage. During PM-HIP, the volume of metal powder within the can shrinks by approximately 30%, but not uniformly.
To address these inconsistencies, Mayeur’s computational models work to predict how the shrinkage occurs for different part geometries and capsule designs. This is an iterative process that occurs after initial capsule design, using the simulation results as a guide to modify the final design.
For more information: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
Image: This additively manufactured PM-HIP will be used to create an impeller for a hydropower impeller, demonstrating a new approach for creating large-scale clean energy components. (Courtesy Carlos Jones/ORNL, US DoE)
Professor Chiyoung Park of the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at DGIST has developed a groundbreaking new material poised to advance high-sensitivity recyclable sensor technology. Working in collaboration with Professor U-hyeok Choi of Inha University, Park’s team created a recyclable high-sensitivity sensor based on the dynamic polymer network. This next-generation material is garnering attention for its ability to combine environmental sustainability with high performance.
Existing high-sensitivity sensors have been limited by performance degradation due to fatigue and repeated use.
However, the dynamic polymer network developed by the research team maintains excellent sensitivity and durability by using vinylogous urethane bonding.
This bonding structure self-heals in response to external stimuli such as temperature, light, and pressure, preventing performance degradation even after repeated use.
The dynamic polymer network is also sensitive to various mechanical movements, heat, and light, and sensors based on the network excel at detecting human body movements.
Researchers have demonstrated that the sensors can accurately detect finger bends, changes in facial expressions, and even swallowing movements in the throat.
One of the biggest strengths of the technology is that it can maintain the same sensitivity after recycling without any degradation.
Addressing the growing issue of e-waste, the team designed the technology to combine recyclability with high performance.
They believe the dynamic polymer network’s versatility supports repeated use and recycling, potentially leading to significant reductions in e-waste.
Their work promises to have far-reaching implications not only in sensor technology but also in next-generation electronics, wearable devices, and medical equipment.
The team continues to work on commercializing the technology for widespread industrial applications.
“Our material offers excellent processability and can be recycled mechanically or chemically,” said DGIST Professor Chiyoung Park.
“The polymer network undergoes a simple recycling process, which we expect will extend the lifespan of electronic devices and wearable sensors, significantly reducing electronic waste.”
For more information: Chemical Engineering Journal
Researchers have developed a technique to engineer layered hybrid perovskites (LHPs) down to the atomic level, precisely controlling how these materials convert electrical charge into light. This advancement paves the way for creating materials tailored for next-generation printed LEDs and lasers, and holds promise for engineering other materials for photovoltaic devices.
Perovskites, known for their crystalline structure, possess desirable optical, electronic, and quantum properties. LHPs are composed of thin sheets of perovskite semiconductor material separated by organic spacer layers, which can be laid down as thin films. These materials are highly efficient at converting electrical charge into light, making them ideal for use in next-generation LEDs, lasers, and photonic integrated circuits. Despite their potential, understanding how to engineer LHPs to control their performance characteristics has been a challenge for researchers until now.
To understand what the researchers discovered, you have to start with quantum wells, which are sheets of semiconductor material sandwiched between spacer layers.
“We knew quantum wells were forming in LHPs – they’re the layers,” says Aram Amassian, corresponding author of a paper on the work and a professor of materials science and engineering at North Carolina State University.
And understanding the size distribution of quantum wells is important because energy flows from high-energy structures to low-energy structures at the molecular level.
“A quantum well that is two atoms thick has higher energy than a quantum well that is five atoms thick,” says Kenan Gundogdu, co-author of the paper and a professor of physics at NC State. “And in order to get energy to flow efficiently, you want to have quantum wells that are three and four atoms thick between the quantum wells that are two and five atoms thick. You basically want to have a gradual slope that the energy can cascade down.”
“But people studying LHPs kept running into an anomaly: the size distribution of quantum wells in an LHP sample that could be detected via X-ray diffraction would be different than the size distribution of quantum wells that could be detected using optical spectroscopy,” Amassian says.
“For example, diffraction might tell you that your quantum wells are two atoms thick, as well as there being a three-dimensional bulk crystal,” Amassian says. “But spectroscopy might tell you that you have quantum wells that are two atoms, three atoms, and four atoms thick, as well as the 3D bulk phase.
“So, the first question we had was: why are we seeing this fundamental disconnect between X-ray diffraction and optical spectroscopy? And our second question was: how can we control the size and distribution of quantum wells in LHPs?”
Through a series of experiments the researchers discovered that there was a key player involved in answering both questions: nanoplatelets.
“Nanoplatelets are individual sheets of the perovskite material that form on the surface of the solution we use to create LHPs,” Amassian says. “We found that these nanoplatelets essentially serve as templates for layered materials that form under them. So, if the nanoplatelet is two atoms thick, the LHP beneath it forms as a series of two-atom-thick quantum wells.
“However, the nanoplatelets themselves aren’t stable, like the rest of the LHP material. Instead, the thickness of nanoplatelets keeps growing, adding new layers of atoms over time. So, when the nanoplatelet is three atoms thick, it forms three-atom quantum wells, and so on. And, eventually, the nanoplatelet grows so thick that it becomes a three-dimensional crystal.”
This finding also resolved the longstanding anomaly about why X-ray diffraction and optical spectroscopy were providing different results. Diffraction detects the stacking of sheets and therefore does not detect nanoplatelets, whereas optical spectroscopy detects isolated sheets.
“What’s exciting is that we found we can essentially stop the growth of nanoplatelets in a controlled way, essentially tuning the size and distribution of quantum wells in LHP films,” Amassian says. “And by controlling the size and arrangement of the quantum wells, we can achieve excellent energy cascades – which means the material is highly efficient and fast at funneling charges and energy for the purposes of laser and LED applications.”
When the researchers found that nanoplatelets played such a critical role in the formation of perovskite layers in LHPs, they decided to see if nanoplatelets could be used to engineer the structure and properties of other perovskite materials – such as the perovskites used to convert light into electricity in solar cells and other photovoltaic technologies.
“We found that the nanoplatelets play a similar role in other perovskite materials and can be used to engineer those materials to enhance the desired structure, improving their photovoltaic performance and stability,” says Milad Abolhasani, co-author of the paper and ALCOA Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NC State.
For more information: Matter
Researchers from Texas A&M University and Sandia National Laboratories have significantly enhanced interlocking metasurfaces (ILMs) using shape memory alloys (SMAs), offering a stronger and more stable alternative to traditional joining techniques like bolts and adhesives, with potential applications in aerospace, robotics, and biomedical devices.
“ILMs are poised to redefine joining technologies across a range of applications, much like Velcro did decades ago,” said Dr. Ibrahim Karaman, professor and head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering Department at Texas A&M. “In collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories, the original developers of ILMs, we have engineered and fabricated ILMs from shape memory alloys. Our research demonstrates that these ILMs can be selectively disengaged and re-engaged on demand while maintaining consistent joint strength and structural integrity.”
Similar to Legos or Velcro, ILMs enable the joining of two bodies by transmitting force and constraining movement. Until now, this joining method has been passive, requiring force for engagement.
Control of joining technology through temperature changes opens new possibilities for smart, adaptive structures without loss in strength or stability and with increased options for flexibility and functionality.
“Active ILMs have the potential to revolutionize mechanical joint design in industries requiring precise, repeatable assembly and disassembly,” said Abdelrahman Elsayed, graduate research assistant in the materials science and engineering department at Texas A&M.
Practical applications include designing reconfigurable aerospace engineering components where parts must be assembled and disassembled multiple times. Active ILMs could also provide flexible and adaptable joints for robotics-enhancing functionality. In biomedical devices, the ability to adjust implants and prosthetics to body movements and temperatures could offer a better option for patients.
The current findings utilized the shape memory effect of SMAs to recover the ILMs’ shape by adding heat. The researchers hope to build on these findings by using the superelasticity effect of SMAs to create ILMs that can withstand large deformation and instantaneously recover under very high-stress levels.
“We anticipate that incorporating SMAs into ILMs will unlock numerous future applications, though several challenges remain,” said Karaman. “Achieving superelasticity in complex 3D-printed ILMs will enable localized control of structural stiffness and facilitate reattachment with high locking forces. Additionally, we expect this technology to address longstanding challenges associated with joining techniques in extreme environments. We are highly enthusiastic about the transformative potential of ILM technology.”
For more information: Materials & Design
Image: Two proposed versions of ILMs in their different engagement states.
A research team from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed the Rapid Object Detection and Action System (RODAS), a unique method that combines imaging, spectroscopy, and microscopy to observe changes in materials at the atomic level. This technique offers new opportunities for understanding and developing advanced materials for quantum computing and electronics by capturing the properties of fleeting atomic structures as they form, providing unprecedented insights into the evolution of material properties at the smallest scales.
Traditional approaches combining scanning transmission electron microscopy, or STEM, with electron energy loss spectroscopy, or EELS, have been limited because the electron beam can change or degrade the materials being analyzed. That dynamic often causes scientists to measure altered states rather than the intended material properties. RODAS overcomes the limitation and also integrates the system with dynamic computer-vision-enabled imaging, which uses real-time machine learning.
When analyzing the specimen, RODAS focuses only on areas of interest. This approach enables rapid analysis—in seconds or milliseconds—compared with sometimes several minutes that can be required by other STEM-EELS methods. Importantly, RODAS extracts crucial information without destroying the sample.
All materials have defects, and these defects can directly influence virtually any of a material’s properties—whether electronic, mechanical or quantum, for example. Defects can arrange themselves in a variety of ways at the atomic level, both intrinsically and in response to external stimuli, such as electron beam irradiation.
Unfortunately, the local properties of these various defect configurations are not well understood. Although STEM methods can experimentally measure such configurations, investigating specific configurations without altering them is extremely challenging.
“Understanding defect configurations is crucial for developing next-generation materials,” said the study’s lead author, Kevin Roccapriore of ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences. “If empowered with that knowledge, we could intentionally create a specific configuration to produce a specific property. Such work is entirely separate from the observation and analysis activity but represents one potentially impactful direction for the future.”
The research team demonstrated their technique on single-layer molybdenum disulfide, a promising semiconductor material for quantum computing and optics applications. Molybdenum disulfide is particularly interesting because it can emit single photons from defects known as single sulfur vacancies.
In this material, a single sulfur vacancy refers to the absence of one sulfur atom from its honeycombed lattice structure, which is the arrangement of the atoms. These vacancies can aggregate, creating unique electronic properties that make molybdenum disulfide valuable for advanced technological applications.
By studying molybdenum disulfide and similar single-layer materials, scientists hope to answer vital questions about optical or electronic properties at the atomic scale.
The RODAS technique represents a significant leap forward in materials characterization. It empowers researchers to dynamically explore structure-property relationships during analysis, target specific atoms or defects for measurement as they form, efficiently collect data on various defect types, adapt to identify new atomic or defect classes in real time and minimize sample damage while maintaining detailed analysis.
By applying this technology to a single layer of vanadium-doped molybdenum disulfide, the research team gained new understanding of defect formation and evolution under electron beam exposure. This approach allows for exploring and characterizing materials in dynamic states, offering a deeper knowledge of how materials behave under various stimuli.
“Materials science techniques such as advanced electron microscopy continue to expand our comprehension of the physical world, and systems such as RODAS could play a crucial role in accelerating discovery and innovation,” Roccapriore said.
“The ability to observe and analyze materials at the atomic scale in real time shows potential for pushing the boundaries in computing, electronics and beyond, and ultimately enabling the development of transformative technologies.”
For more information: Science Advances
Image: Electron microscopy measurements are usually performed by collecting all points in a 2D grid. Here, using deep learning in real time, only sites of interest are measured (colored circles), allowing experiments to be conducted on a much larger variety of materials, even those that change under the beam.
Materials Analysis Technology Inc., Taiwan, and Swiss SGS Taiwan Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding with the goal of providing comprehensive ISO 26262 functional safety product certification services, AEC-Q automotive electronic component reliability verification services, and soft error rate assessment and analysis in the automotive semiconductor and electronic component industries in Taiwan.
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Faraday Technology Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a leading application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) design service and IP provider, is expanding its use of Ansys technology to enhance its capabilities in developing advanced designs for multi-die 2.5D/3D-ICs — critical for artificial intelligence (AI), IoT, and 5G applications. With support from Ansys, Faraday will empower its customers to explore more robust design options for more innovative products.
Faraday recently announced a 2.5D/3D-IC advanced package service to address exploding demand for multi-die designs that target products with better performance and lower power consumption. To meet this demand, engineers need the right multiphysics analysis tools to verify that chip designs include reliable signal and structural integrity and reliable power distribution before it goes to fabrication. This challenge is compounded by the trend toward developing denser chips that are more vulnerable to EM issues.
Adding RaptorX into the design flow will enable Faraday to increase precision and efficiency in its development process. Moreover, it enables predictively accurate EM modeling and analysis for advanced 3D-IC products, ensuring data transfer meets stringent modern standards. This will improve the design’s fidelity, enhance performance and reliability, and accelerate time-to-market.
“Our extensive silicon IP allows our customers to start designing from a solid foundation, enabling them to focus solely on innovation and differentiating themselves in the market,” said C.H. Chien, vice president of R&D at Faraday. “Fabrication is exceptionally expensive and there is no room for error. So, keeping the overall project cost low is paramount, and it starts with the initial design. With the addition of RaptorX in this phase, we can offer customers an efficient workflow that includes design verification and signoff as well as access to top-tier test and fabrication services, removing doubts about the chip’s performance and longevity.”
“Ansys’ focus on multiphysics platforms enables innovators like Faraday to address key challenges for 3D-IC and accelerate their time-to-market,” said John Lee, vice president and general manager of the semiconductor, electronics, and optics business unit at Ansys. “Our industry-leading tools facilitate meticulous modeling and analysis of electromagnetic phenomena, helping our customers remain at the forefront of technological advancements in 5G, AI, and IoT.”
Image – EMag extraction of an interposer lane, including 48 signals in the presence of their respective VDD/VSS network and indicative simulation results, and S-Parameter analysis and transient (eye diagram) analysis of a signal line.
For more information:
Ansys
Faraday Technology Corporation
A team of academic and enterprise researchers at Penn State has developed a synthesis process to produce a “rust-resistant” coating with additional properties ideal for creating faster, more durable electronics.
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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.
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