Research

A hyper-beam array lithography system has been introduced to the US, based on architecture pioneered in Europe. The lithography tool operates with 65,000 independently controlled parallel beams which delivers capabilities at a scale no electron beam technology can match, said the company. Installed at Northrup Grumann, it addresses the holy grail of chip design, said founder and CEO, Lex Keen. ...

There were many changes to the format of Semicon West this year, not least the change of venue to Phoenix, Arizona. The semiconductor, electronics design and manufacturing show had been held in San Francisco and this was the first year of a ‘co-parenting’ arrangement, which will see the conference alternate between the two cities every October. One change that many ...

Imec has demo-ed a beyond-110GHz C-band GeSi electro-absorption modulator, fabricated on its 300mm silicon photonics platform. Achieving a net data rate of 400Gb/s per lane and optimized for compactness, low latency, and high energy efficiency, imec’s modulator establishes the foundation for next-generation optical IM/DD (intensity modulation with direct detection) links that interconnect datacentre racks and blade servers in a simple ...

Drones are to be evaluated in the UK for delivering defibrillators to people experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The University of Surrey is running the study, with Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex (‘KSS’), and South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust. “With survival rates for OHCA in the UK currently below 10%, a key challenge is the delay ...

Researchers in Tokyo have created a spinel sulphide LED material that can can be tuned to emit light at wavelengths between orange and blue, and has photovoltaic properties. Spinel is a type of cubic crystal structure, available to certain chemicals of the form AB2X4. The type identified is (Zn,Mg)Sc2S4, where the balance of zinc and magnesium sets the bandgap and ...

Semiconductor research lab imec is to develop processes for growing GaN power semiconductors on 300mm wafers – capacity is now mostly on 200mm. It will be working with Aixtron, GlobalFoundries, KLA, Synopsys and Veeco, and the research follows 300mm wafer handling tests and mask set development. “The benefits of transitioning to 300mm wafers go beyond upscaling production and reducing manufacturing ...

The semiconductor, electronics design and manufacturing industry association, SEMI, has announced that Greg Barrett will succeed Kevin Bauer as CFO (chief financial officer) and business operations officer. Before joining SEMI, Barrett was senior vice president and CFO of Efinix, a programmable semiconductor company. He also held senior roles at Super Micro Computer, Rambus, Micron Technology and Altera. “Greg’s specialised industry ...

Aiming to reduce losses in 6G infrastructure, researchers from Japan have developed a family of low dielectric constant and low dissipation factor insulating polymers. “Based on our previous research on high refractive index polymers, we hypothesised that replacing oxygen with sulphur in certain polymers such as PPO, could significantly reduce the dissipation factor,” said Waseda University chemist Professor Kenichi Oyaizu. ...

TDK and Hokkaido University are to demonstrate real-time learning in a ‘reservoir’ analogue AI chip that mimics the cerebellum at CEATEC in Japan. Reservoir computing is not deep-learning, where there is an input layer, multiple hidden layers and an output layer, usually implemented in digital logic that executes many, sometime trillions, of multiply and add operations. “Reservoir computing consists of an ...

Imec has appointed Patrick Vandenameele (pictured right) as  its next CEO effective 1 April 2026, succeeding  Luc Van den hove (pictured  left) who, after 17 years of visionary leadership, becomes chairman  of imec’s board of directors. In this new role, Van den hove will focus on executive stakeholder management and will continue to provide strategic guidance, supporting the new CEO ...