Tohoku University researchers have developed a technique using a hollow sphere to measure the electronic and optical properties of large semiconducting crystals. The approach, published in the journal Applied Physics Express, improves on current photoluminescence spectroscopy techniques and could lead to energy savings for mass producers, and thus consumers, of power devices. Semiconducting crystals are used […]
Development of a Displacement Sensor to Measure Gravity of Smallest Source Mass Ever
One of the most unknown phenomena in modern physics is gravity. Its measurement and laws remain somewhat of an enigma. Researchers at Tohoku University have revealed important information about a new aspect of the nature of gravity by probing the smallest mass-scale. Professor Nobuyuki Matsumoto has led a team of researchers to develop a gravity […]
Copper-Based Alternative for Next-Generation Electronics
Japanese scientists have developed a technique to transform a copper-based substance into a material that mimics properties of precious and pricey metals, such as gold and silver. The new medium, made of copper nanoparticles (very small copper-based structures) has promising applications in the production of electronic devices that would otherwise depend on expensive gold and […]
A Nonvolatile Spintronics-Based 50 uW Microcontroller Unit Operating at 200 MHz
Researchers at Tohoku University have announced the development of a nonvolatile microcontroller unit (MCU) which achieves both high performance and ultra-low power by utilizing spintronics-based VLSI design technology. The demand for low-power, high-performance microcontroller units (MCUs) has been increasing for power-supply-critical Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensor node applications. In sensor node applications, a distributed network of sensors extracts and […]
Researchers Develop 128Mb STT-MRAM with World’s Fastest Write Speed for Embedded Memory
A research team, led by Professor Tetsuo Endoh at Tohoku University, has successfully developed 128Mb-density STT-MRAM (spin-transfer torque magnetoresistive random access memory) with a write speed of 14 ns for use in embedded memory applications, such as cache in IOT and AI. This is currently the world’s fastest write speed for embedded memory application with […]
Splitting Crystals for 2D Metallic Conductivity
Sheets of electrons that are highly mobile in only two dimensions, known as 2D electron gas, have unique properties that can be leveraged for faster and novel electronic devices. Researchers have been exploring 2D electron gas, which was only discovered in 2004, to see how it can be used in superconductors, actuators, and electronic memory […]
Ultralow Power Consumption For Data Recording
A team of researchers at Tohoku University, in collaboration with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and Hanyang University, has developed new phase change material which has electrical characteristics that behave differently to those of conventional materials. This new material allows a drastic reduction in power consumption for data-recording in non-volatile […]
Brittle Stars Inspire New Generation Robots Able To Adapt To Physical Damage
Researchers at Tohoku University and Hokkaido University have, for the first time, succeeded in developing a robot capable of immediately adapting to unexpected physical damage. This is a significant breakthrough as robots are increasingly expected to function in tough environments under hazardous conditions. Conventional robots tend to require a considerable amount of time (several tens […]
A New-Structure Magnetic Memory Device Developed
The research group of Professor Hideo Ohno and Associate Professor Shunsuke Fukami of Tohoku University has developed a new-structure magnetic memory device utilizing spin-orbit- torque-induced magnetization switching. For these two decades, much effort has been devoted to the development of magnetic random access memories (MRAMs), which store information as the magnetization direction of a magnet. […]
Graphene Becomes Superconductive: Electrons With ‘No Mass’ Flow With ‘No Resistance’
Graphene is a single-atomic carbon sheet with a hexagonal honeycomb network (Fig. 1). Electrons in graphene take a special electronic state called Dirac-cone where they behave as if they have no mass. This allows them to flow at very high speed, giving graphene a very high level of electrical conductivity. This is significant because electrons […]