Research

At Microelectronics UK (24-25 September), Kanishka Narayan, Minister of State for semiconductors, emerging technology, AI and online safety announced investment designed to support the UK semiconductor industry. The exhibition and conference for the microlectronics supply chain was held in London’s Excel Centre. In his keynote, the minister highlighted that the government is investing £10m in a new initiative with Innovate ...

A single structure built in the metal layers of an IC can implement both machine learning and analogue AI inferencing, according to a French team led by Grenoble lab CEA-Leti – and the CMOS below can also be used for processing. Made between two metal interconnect layers, the structure has four layers: TiN at the bottom, Si-doped HfO2, a Ti ...

Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) are to co-operate on R&D, personnel exchanges and co-development of emerging technologies in semiconductor measurement standards. The agreement follows the establishment of ITRI’s UK Office in May and its partnership with the Catapult Network. ITRI kicked off Taiwan’s involvement in the semiconductor industry by negotiating a licensing ...

Belgian research lab Imec has revealed advances single-print high numerical aperture EUV lithography at the ‘SPIE Photomask Technology + EUV Lithography’ conference in Monterey California: Line structures at 20nm pitch with 13nm tip-to-tip CD (critical dimension) – relevant for damascene metallisation Electrical test on 20nm pitch ruthenium lines obtained using direct metal etch From the left: 20nm pitch line structures ...

Researchers at East China Normal University have created a mid-infra-red camera with a deep depth of field by creating a virtual pin-hole in an optically-active crystal. The lens-free system not only focuses, but changes the image wavelength to suit a silicon-based sensor. Key to the proof-of-concept camera is a custom non-linear crystal with a chirped-period structure. To create the pin-hole, ...

US government agency NOAA has deployed five ocean-going autonomous sailing robots from UK-based Oshen. Final test at St Thomas The boats, just over a meter long and called C-Stars, will gather meteorological and oceanographic data for hurricane research and forecasting. “Understanding weather conditions where the ocean surface meets the lower atmosphere is key to predicting hurricane intensity,” said NOAA oceanographer ...

Origami-like construction is a novel technology for objects that need to be stored and shipped in a compact form, and then folded out into strong 3D structures. Towards optimising such structures, researchers at Pusan National University in Korea have found a way to make a monolithic pre-object flat-pack by defining stiff flat parts and flexible hinges in stacked sheets of ...

Seeking to improve sweat sensors, researchers at Waseda University in Japan have taken inspiration from rose petals. Sweat sensors exist and are used to monitor electrolyte levels during exercise as a way to improve hydration. The challenge at Waseda was to make a sweat sensor that could be put on and taken off when required – so no adhesive involved ...

Seoul National University of Science and Technology has mimicked the tiny feet of starfish to make tiny grippers for underwater ‘soft’ robots. Gecko feet have already done something similar for out-of-water robots, where hairs that split and split again deliver a huge surface area where van der Waals forces can add up to something useful for the surface of grippers ...

Materials scientists at Rice University have found a way to grow the two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide tungsten diselenide directly on patterned gold electrodes and nearby substrate, and demonstrated a transistor. “This is the first demonstration of a transfer-free method to grow 2D devices,” claimed researcher Sathvik Iyengar (pictured). “This is a solid step toward reducing processing temperatures and making a ...