The obvious drawback of solar panels is that they require sunlight to generate electricity. Some have observed that for a device on Earth facing space, which has a frigid temperature, the chilling outflow of energy from the device can be harvested using the same kind of optoelectronic physics we have used to harness solar energy. […]
A Major Step Closer to a Viable Recording Material for Future Hard Disk Drives
Magnetic recording is the primary technology underpinning today’s large-scale data storage. Now, companies are racing to develop new hard disk devices (HDDs) capable of recording densities greater than 1 terabit per square inch. Perpendicular recording HDDs store data as tiny areas of “up” or “down” magnetization within a thin layer on the surfaces of the […]
Assessing the Promise of Gallium Oxide as an Ultrawide Bandgap Semiconductor
In microelectronic devices, the bandgap is a major factor determining the electrical conductivity of the underlying materials. Substances with large bandgaps are generally insulators that do not conduct electricity well, and those with smaller bandgaps are semiconductors. A more recent class of semiconductors with ultrawide bandgaps (UWB) are capable of operating at much higher temperatures […]
New Reservoir Computer Marks First-Ever Microelectromechanical Neural Network Application
As artificial intelligence has become increasingly sophisticated, it has inspired renewed efforts to develop computers whose physical architecture mimics the human brain. One approach, called reservoir computing, allows hardware devices to achieve the higher-dimension calculations required by emerging artificial intelligence. One new device highlights the potential of extremely small mechanical systems to achieve these calculations. […]
New Memristor Boosts Accuracy and Efficiency for Neural Networks on an Atomic Scale
Just like their biological counterparts, hardware that mimics the neural circuitry of the brain requires building blocks that can adjust how they synapse, with some connections strengthening at the expense of others. One such approach, called memristors, uses current resistance to store this information. New work looks to overcome reliability issues in these devices by […]
Researchers Discover Link Between Magnetic Field Strength And Temperature
Researchers recently discovered that the strength of the magnetic field required to elicit a particular quantum mechanical process, such as photoluminescence and the ability to control spin states with electromagnetic (EM) fields, corresponds to the temperature of the material. Based on this finding, scientists can determine a sample’s temperature to a resolution of one cubic […]
Blasting Tiny Craters In Glass, Creating Material To Miniaturize Telecommunication Devices
Modern communication systems often employ optical fibers to carry signals across or between devices. The integrated optics in these devices combine more than one function into a single circuit. However, signal transmission requires long optical fibers, which makes it difficult to miniaturize the device. Instead of long optical fibers, scientists have started testing planar waveguides. […]
The Culprit Of Some GaN Defects Could Be Nitrogen
As silicon-based semiconductors reach their performance limits, gallium nitride (GaN) is becoming the next go-to material to advance light-emitting diode (LED) technologies, high-frequency transistors and photovoltaic devices. Holding GaN back, however, is its high numbers of defects. This material degradation is due to dislocations—when atoms become displaced in the crystal lattice structure. When multiple dislocations simultaneously […]
Robotic Assembly Of The World’s Smallest House—Even A Mite Doesn’t Fit Through The Door
A French nanorobotics team from the Femto-ST Institute in Besançon, France, assembled a new microrobotics system that pushes forward the frontiers of optical nanotechnologies. Combining several existing technologies, the μRobotex nanofactory builds microstructures in a large vacuum chamber and fixes components onto optical fiber tips with nanometer accuracy. The microhouse construction, reported in the Journal of […]
Design For Magnetoelectric Device May Improve Your Memory
For years, manufacturers have offered computers with increasing amounts of memory packed into smaller devices. But semiconductor companies can’t reduce the size of memory components as quickly as they used to, and current designs are not energy-efficient. Conventional memory devices use transistors and rely on electric fields to store and read out information. An alternative […]