Using a few tiny liquid bubbles to bend light beams could open the doors for next-generation, high-speed circuits and displays, according to new research at Penn State, State College. To combine the speed of optical communication with the portability of electronic circuitry, researchers use nanoplasmonics-devices that use short electromagnetic waves to modulate light on the nanometer scale, where conventional optics do not work.
EAG launches electronics system failure analysis service
Evans Analytical Group (EAG), Santa Clara, Calif., has launched a comprehensive electronics system failure analysis service. It is now one of the only companies to focus on the entire system, from electronics to materials, all the way down to failure mechanisms at the IC transistor level. The service includes both electrical testing and materials characterization, using the latest high-resolution imaging and electrical localization tools.
Shape-memory polymer repeatedly reverses deformation
Researchers from the Institute of Biomaterial Science of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Germany, have developed shape-memory polymers that can repeatedly change from one shape to another and then back again when temperatures fluctuate within a selected range. This enables their use as actuators. Until now, polymers with temperature-controlled shape memory could change form only once.
Indium develops BiAgX lead-free paste for die-attach applications
Indium Corp., Utica, N.Y., announces that Dr. HongWen Zhang, Research Metallurgist, will present “Reliability and Corrosion Resistance of Lead-Free BiAgX Pastes for High-Temperature Die Attach Applications,” at the ASM International Materials Science and Technology Conference October 27-31 in Montreal, Canada. The presentation explains the research involved in identifying lead-free alternatives for high-melting, high lead-containing solder alloys.
Steel Tube Institute launches new website
The Steel Tube Institute (STI), Chicago, launched a newly remodeled website to encourage more visitors to learn more about steel tubular products and its member producers who are featured on the main STI site, as well as individual product sites. Still active at its original domain, the updated website features all the products that STI represents including Drawn Over Mandrel (DOM), Hollow Structural Sections (HSS), Mechanical Tubing, Standard Pipe, and Steel Conduit.


