Researchers have made the first direct visual observation and measurement of ultra-fast vortex dynamics in superconductors. Their technique, detailed in the journal Nature Communications, could contribute to the development of novel practical applications by optimizing superconductor properties for use in electronics. Superconductivity is a state of matter in which an electric current can flow with absolutely…
First Direct Observation and Measurement of Ultra-fast Moving Vortices in Superconductors
Thinking Thin Brings New Layering and Thermal Abilities to the Semiconductor Industry
What would a simple technique to remove thin layers from otherwise thick, rigid semiconductor crystals mean for the semiconductor industry? This concept has been actively explored for years, as integrated circuits made on thin layers hold promise for developments including improved thermal characteristics, lightweight stackability and a high degree of flexibility compared to conventionally thick…
Nanostructures Taste the Rainbow
Engineers at Caltech have for the first time developed a light detector that combines two disparate technologies — nanophotonics, which manipulates light at the nanoscale, and thermoelectrics, which translates temperature differences directly into electron voltage — to distinguish different wavelengths (colors) of light, including both visible and infrared wavelengths, at high resolution. Light detectors that…
New Class of ‘Soft’ Semiconductors Could Transform HD Displays
New A.I. Chip Could Implement Predictive Maintenance in Smart Factories
‘Magic’ Alloy Could Spur Next Generation of Solar Cells
Research Effort Creates New Alloys, Phase Diagram
Researchers Image Quasiparticles that Could Lead to Faster Circuits, Higher Bandwidths
Zhe Fei pointed to the bright and dark vertical lines running across his computer screen. This nano-image, he explained, shows the waves associated with a half-light, half-matter quasiparticle moving inside a semiconductor. “These are waves just like water waves,” said Fei, an Iowa State University assistant professor of physics and astronomy and an associate of…
Electric Avenue: New Approach Could Transform Semiconductor Tech
Recent research from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln may help future engineers of digital components get two (or more) for the space of one. A team of physicists has demonstrated a reversible method for altering the electronic properties of a nanoscopic material, pointing the way toward merging several hallmark functions of modern electronics into a single…
Say Goodbye to Cracked Smart Devices
A Queen’s University researcher has led an international team of scientists to the discovery of a new material, which could finally bring an end to the misery of cracked smartphone and tablet screens. Currently, most parts of a smart phone are made of silicon and other compounds, which are expensive and break easily, but with…
Researchers Discover New Way to Control Light
Researchers from North Carolina State University have discovered a technique for controlling light with electric fields. “Our method is similar to the technique used to provide the computing capabilities of computers,” says Linyou Cao, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and corresponding author of a paper on the work. “In…
Scientists Demonstrate Ballistic Nanowire Connections
IBM scientists have achieved an important milestone toward creating sophisticated quantum devices that could become a key component of quantum computers. As detailed in the peer-review journal Nano Letters, the scientists have shot an electron through a III-V semiconductor nanowire integrated on silicon for the first time. IBM scientists are driving multiple horizons in quantum…
Ultrafast Tunable Semiconductor Metamaterial Created
An international team of researchers from Moscow State University (Russia), Sandia National Laboratories (U.S.), and Friedrich-Schiller University (Germany) have devised an ultrafast tunable metamaterial based on gallium arsenide nanoparticles. Their study was published in Nature Communications. The new optical metamaterial paves the way to ultrafast information transfer on the nanoscale. Optical metamaterials are man-made media…
Twisted Polymers Look on the Bright Side
A strategy to produce highly fluorescent nanoparticles through careful molecular design of conjugated polymers has been developed by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology researchers. Such tiny polymer-based particles could offer alternatives to conventional organic dyes and inorganic semiconductor quantum dots as fluorescent tags for medical imaging. Conjugated polymer-derived nanoparticles, called Pdots, are expected…
Peek into Superconductor’s “Normal” State Could Solve Puzzle
Since the discovery two decades ago of the unconventional topological superconductor Sr2RuO4, scientists have extensively investigated its properties at temperatures below its 1 K critical temperature (Tc), at which a phase transition from a metal to a superconducting state occurs. Now experiments done at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the Madhavan and Abbamonte…
Brain-on-a-Chip Grown on Semiconductor Wafer
Australian National University researchers have developed a suitable material to allow brain cells to grow and form predictable circuits, which could lead to the development of prosthetics for the brain. Researchers grew the brain cells on a semiconductor wafer patterned with nanowires which act as a scaffold to guide the growth of brain cells. Lead…
Unlocking the Mysteries of Strontium Niobate
Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) recently uncovered novel properties of strontium niobate, which is a unique semiconductor material that displays both metallic type conduction and photocatalytic activity. The two studies, which were conducted in collaboration with researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, herald exciting opportunities…
Cheaper, Greener Semiconductor Films On the Way
University of Michigan chemists have developed a greener, cheaper way to make single-crystalline semiconductor films, components at the heart of all of our electric gadgetry. Single-crystalline films of inorganic semiconductors are the bedrock of nearly all electronics, including smartphones, computers and solar panels. The fastest integrated circuits feature transistors consisting of germanium films on silicon.…
Lasers Hold Secret to Future Superconductors
Decal Stickers Function as Semiconductors
Today’s computer processors are composed of billions of transistors. These electronic components normally consist of semiconductor material, insulator, substrate, and electrode. A dream of many scientists is to have each of these elements available as transferable sheets, which would allow them to design new electronic devices simply by stacking. This has now become a reality…
Researchers Develop Flexible, Biodegradable Semiconductor
As electronics become increasingly pervasive in our lives — from smart phones to wearable sensors — so too does the ever rising amount of electronic waste they create. A United Nations Environment Program report found that almost 50 million tons of electronic waste were thrown out in 2017 — more than 20 percent higher than…
How to Measure Warped Microchips
As integrated circuit components are coming up against size limits, manufacturers are turning to new approaches based on stacking extremely thin wafers. However, the thin wafers easily warp under the stresses involved in fabrication, and measuring the stress and warpage has so far proven challenging. In a paper published in the Journal of Applied Crystallography,…
Moore’s Law May Extend Thanks to “Valleytronics”
In the world of semiconductor physics, the goal is to devise more efficient and microscopic ways to control and keep track of 0 and 1, the binary codes that all information storage and logic functions in computers are based on. A new field of physics seeking such advancements is called valleytronics, which exploits the electron’s…
Innovative 2D Materials Conduct Electricity Near Speed of Light
Physicists at the University of California, Irvine and elsewhere have fabricated new two-dimensional materials with breakthrough electrical and magnetic attributes that could make them building blocks of future quantum computers and other advanced electronics. In three separate studies appearing this month in Nature, Science Advances, and Nature Materials, UCI researchers and colleagues from UC Berkeley,…