Semiconductors
IBM captures first-ever image of single-molecule charge distribution
February 28, 2012 3:29 am | News | CommentsScientists using a variant of atomic force microscopy called Kelvin probe force microscopy, at low temperatures and in ultrahigh vacuum, have recently obtained the first image of the charge distribution within a single molecule. The molecule is the same as the type used in IBM’s single-molecule logic switch.
Solution found to spintronics mystery
February 27, 2012 4:52 pm | by Lynn Yarris | News | CommentsA long-standing controversy regarding the semiconductor gallium manganese arsenide, one of the most promising materials for spintronic technology, looks to have been resolved. Researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Notre Dame University found the that the spintronic properties do not arise from a valence energy band, as many scientists have argued.
Engineers achieve major band gap improvement for metal oxides
February 21, 2012 11:38 am | News | CommentsComplex transition metal oxides have for years held great promise for information and energy applications, but reducing the band gaps of these insulators without hurting performance has been a major challenge. A recent layer-by-layer growth method pioneered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has achieved a 30% reduction in this band gap, a significant improvement.
One and done: Single-atom transistor is end of Moore's Law
February 21, 2012 2:59 am | News | CommentsThe smallest transistor ever built—in fact, the smallest transistor that can be built—has been created using a single phosphorous atom by an international team of researchers at the University of New South Wales, Purdue University, and the University of Melbourne.
R & D in the 1970s
February 15, 2012 6:30 am | by R&D Editors | Articles | CommentsAs integrated circuits and environmentally friendly technologies emerged, R&D 100 Award winners set the pace.
World’s first 300-mm self-assembly process line debuts
February 12, 2012 5:21 pm | News | CommentsAt this week's SPIE Advanced Lithography conference in San Jose, Calif., imec plans to announce the successful implementation of the world's first 300-mm fab-compatible directed self-assembly process line all under one roof.
Nanomanufacturing gets wear-resistant carbide tip
February 10, 2012 1:48 pm | News | CommentsEngineers at two universities and IBM Research’s Zurich, Switzerland, R&D center have developed an ultrasharp silicon carbide tip that is 10,000 times more wear resistant than previous than previous designs and 100,000 times smaller than the tip of a pencil.
Cadence, Samsung Foundry join on nanoscale DFM chip solutions
February 8, 2012 9:56 am | News | CommentsWorking together, Cadence Design Systems and Samsung Foundry have developed design-for-manufacturing work flows to tackle physical signoff and electrical variability optimization for 32- and 28-nm system-on-a-chip designs. Now, they extended advanced DFM flow to 20 nm as well.
Scientists manipulate magnetism without heating material
January 31, 2012 11:13 am | by Mike Ross, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory | News | CommentsAlthough of purely scientific interest for now, a method that researchers at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have invented to alter magnetic properties in manganese-oxide materials without heating them up could greatly speed up low-voltage, non-volatile computer memory.
Bilayer graphene works as an insulator
January 24, 2012 9:56 am | News | CommentsA research team led by physicists at the University of California, Riverside has identified a property of bilayer graphene (BLG) that the researchers say is analogous to finding the Higgs boson in particle physics. The physicists report that in investigating BLG's properties they found that when the number of electrons on the BLG sheet is close to 0, the material becomes insulating.
Cooling semiconductor by laser light
January 23, 2012 3:52 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have combined two worlds—quantum physics and nano physics—which have led to the discovery of a new method for laser cooling semiconductor membranes. The cooling method works quite paradoxically by heating the material. Using lasers, researchers cooled membrane fluctuations to -269 C.
Giant magnetoresistance can occur in a giant way without magnetism
January 19, 2012 5:46 am | News | CommentsPhase-change random access memory (PCRAM) is a promising technology for next-generation non-volatile memory, but it has been limited by room temperature efficiency. A research group in Japan recently invented a variation of PCRAM that achieves a magnetoresistance effect of more than 2000% at room temperature and higher, and doesn’t require the use of magnetic elements such as cobalt and platinum.
Smallest-ever magnetic data storage unit is built atom by atom
January 16, 2012 8:49 am | News | CommentsScientists from IBM and the German Center for Free-Electron Laser Science have built the world's smallest magnetic data storage unit. It uses just twelve atoms per bit, the basic unit of information, and squeezes a whole byte (8 bits) into as few as 96 atoms.
Nanotube 'glow sticks' transform surface science tool kit
January 11, 2012 3:48 am | News | CommentsMany physical and chemical processes necessary for biology and chemistry occur at the interface of water and solid surfaces. Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have now shown that semiconducting carbon nanotubes have the potential to detect and track single molecules in water.
High-speed CMOS sensor better supports fluorescence
January 6, 2012 7:34 am | News | CommentsConventional CMOS image sensors are not suitable for low-light applications such as fluorescence, because large pixels arranged in a matrix do not support high readout speeds. A new optoelectronic component invented in Germany speeds up this process.
Ohm's law survives to the atomic scale
January 5, 2012 11:18 am | News | CommentsAccording to a recently published study, the narrowest silicon conducting wires ever made—just four atoms wide and one atom tall—have been shown to have the same electrical current carrying capability of copper. The finding suggests the wires could be a building block for future atomic-scale electronic circuitry.
Engineers improve electrical efficiency in organic semiconductors
January 4, 2012 4:08 am | by Andrew Myers, Stanford University | News | CommentsOrganic semiconductors could usher in a new era of electronics. But there is one serious drawback: Organic semiconductors do not conduct electricity very well. However, researchers at Stanford University have changed that equation by improving the ability of the electrons to move through organic semiconductors.
An easier way to etch semiconductors
January 3, 2012 3:38 am | News | CommentsCreating semiconductor structures for high-end optoelectronic devices just got easier, thanks to University of Illinois researchers. The team developed a method to chemically etch patterned arrays in the semiconductor gallium arsenide.
2012 Global R & D Funding Forecast: Industrial R & D—Chemicals, Materials
December 16, 2011 3:40 am | by Martin Grueber, Research Leader, Battelle and Tim Studt, Editor-in-Chief, Advantage Business Media | Articles | CommentsThe development of new and advanced materials is often the driver for other industries, such as those involving semiconductors, composites, thin films and coatings, medical devices, chemical and environmental processes, energy systems, and biopharmaceutical products. R&D for these materials involves developing new characteristics, properties, processing capabilities, and entirely new chemical families that could create whole new industries.
Amorphous silicon brings flex and efficiency to electronic optical fibers
December 14, 2011 3:30 am | News | CommentsA new chemical technique for depositing a non-crystalline form of silicon into the long, ultra-thin pores of optical fibers has been developed by an international team of scientists. The method is the first of its kind to use high-pressure chemistry to make this particular kind of well-developed films and wires.
Solution-based technology produces flex-and-stretch electronics
December 14, 2011 3:21 am | News | CommentsLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory engineers have pioneered a new inexpensive technique for fabricating large-scale flexible and stretchable backplanes using semiconductor-enriched carbon nanotube solutions. Their method yields networks of thin film transistors with excellent charge carrier mobility.
3D electronics can be connected with carbon nanotubes
December 12, 2011 7:47 am | News | CommentsTo build denser electronics, developers of 3D, or stacked, chips, have primarily used copper. However, copper has several disadvantages that can limit the reliability of 3D electronics. Researchers have recently demonstrated that two stacked chips can also be vertically interconnected with carbon nanotube vias through the chips.
New 3D transistors promising future chips, lighter laptops
December 6, 2011 8:32 am | News | CommentsResearchers from Purdue and Harvard universities have created a new type of transistor made from a material that could replace silicon and have a 3D structure instead of conventional flat computer chips.
New piezoelectric device offers better charge, force
November 23, 2011 8:56 am | News | CommentsA team of university researchers, aided by scientists at NIST, have succeeded in integrating a new, highly efficient piezoelectric material into a silicon microelectromechanical system. The invention offers much greater force response and electricity charge generation over previous piezoelectric materials.
K computer tops SC11’s HPC challenge
November 16, 2011 10:13 am | News | CommentsAfter topping both the June and November 2011 TOP500 fastest computers list, RIKEN and Fujitsu’s “K” computer has bolstered its status as an all-around performer but ranking at the top in all four benchmarks of the 2011 HPC Challenge Awards at SC11 in Seattle.
