Quick-change materials break the silicon speed limit for computers
Cambridge, UK (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
Faster, smaller, greener computers, capable of processing information up to 1,000 times faster than currently available models, could be made possible by replacing silicon with materials that can switch back and forth between different electrical states.
The present size and speed limitations of computer processors and memory could be overcome by replacing silicon with 'phase-change materi ...
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Successful Upscaling of OPV Cells Paves Way for Market Introduction
Amsterdam, Netherlands (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
At this week's European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC 2014), nanoelectronics research center imec presents a fullerene-free organic photovoltaic (OPV) module of 160cm2 achieving a conversion efficiency above 5 percent, and a semi-transparent OPV module with an efficiency above 4.5 percent.
With both modules showing excellent electrical and optical properties ...
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Kyocera joins imec's program on advanced silicon solar cell technology
Leuven, Belgium (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
Belgian nanoelectronics research centre imec and Kyocera Corporation have announced that Kyocera, the Japanese high-tech electronics company and manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) cells, modules and systems, has joined imec's industrial affiliation program (IIAP) to advance next-generation crystalline silicon solar cells.
This multi-partner R and D program aims at increasing the efficiency ...
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Future flexible electronics based on carbon nanotubes
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and Northwestern University have demonstrated a new method to improve the reliability and performance of transistors and circuits based on carbon nanotubes (CNT), a semiconductor material that has long been considered by scientists as one of the most promising successors to silicon for smaller, faster and cheaper electronic devices.
The re ...
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Fracking's environmental impacts scrutinised
Manchester, UK (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
Greenhouse gas emissions from the production and use of shale gas would be comparable to conventional natural gas, but the controversial energy source actually faired better than renewables on some environmental impacts, according to new research.
The UK holds enough shale gas to supply its entire gas demand for 470 years, promising to solve the country's energy crisis and end its reliance ...
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Blackout? Robots to the Rescue
Houghton MI (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
Big disasters almost always result in big power failures. Not only do they take down the TV and fridge, they also wreak havoc with key infrastructure like cell towers. That can delay search and rescue operations at a time when minutes count.
Now, a team led by Nina Mahmoudian of Michigan Technological University has developed a tabletop model of a robot team that can bring power to places ...
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New discovery could pave the way for spin-based computing
Pittsburgh PA (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
Electricity and magnetism rule our digital world. Semiconductors process electrical information, while magnetic materials enable long-term data storage.
A University of Pittsburgh research team has discovered a way to fuse these two distinct properties in a single material, paving the way for new ultrahigh density storage and computing architectures.
While phones and laptops rely on ...
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Marcellus drilling boom may have led to too many hotel rooms
University Park PA (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
Drilling in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale region led to a rapid increase in both the number of hotels and hotel industry jobs, but Penn State researchers report that the faltering occupancy rate may signal that there are now too many hotel rooms.
"Demand is still high in many of the counties in the Marcellus Shale region, but the occupancy rate is starting to come down," said Daniel Mount ...
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Oxides Discovered by CCNY Team Could Advance Memory Devices
New York NY (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
The quest for the ultimate memory device for computing may have just taken an encouraging step forward. Researchers at The City College of New York led by chemist Stephen O'Brien have discovered new complex oxides that exhibit both magnetic and ferroelectric properties.
Combining both properties is very exciting scientifically for the coupling that can occur between them and for the device ...
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Toward optical chips
Boston MA (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
Chips that use light, rather than electricity, to move data would consume much less power - and energy efficiency is a growing concern as chips' transistor counts rise.
Of the three chief components of optical circuits - light emitters, modulators, and detectors - emitters are the toughest to build. One promising light source for optical chips is molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), which has exce ...
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Graphene imperfections key to creating hypersensitive 'electronic nose'
Chicago IL (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
Researchers have discovered a way to create a highly sensitive chemical sensor based on the crystalline flaws in graphene sheets. The imperfections have unique electronic properties that the researchers were able to exploit to increase sensitivity to absorbed gas molecules by 300 times.
The study is available online in advance of print in Nature Communications.
Amin Salehi- Khojin, a ...
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World's smallest reference material is big plus for nanotechnology
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
If it's true that good things come in small packages, then the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) can now make anyone working with nanoparticles very happy. NIST recently issued Reference Material (RM) 8027, the smallest known reference material ever created for validating measurements of these man-made, ultrafine particles between 1 and 100 nanometers (billionths of a meter) ...
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Putting the squeeze on quantum information
Toronto, Canada (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
CIFAR researchers have shown that information stored in quantum bits can be exponentially compressed without losing information. The achievement is an important proof of principle, and could be useful for efficient quantum communications and information storage.
Compression is vital for modern digital communication. It helps movies to stream quickly over the Internet, music to fit into dig ...
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Natural gas usage will have little effect on CO2 emissions
Irvine CA (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
Abundant supplies of natural gas will do little to reduce harmful U.S. emissions causing climate change, according to researchers at UC Irvine, Stanford University, and the nonprofit organization Near Zero. They found that inexpensive gas boosts electricity consumption and hinders expansion of cleaner energy sources, such as wind and solar.
The study results, which appear in the journal En ...
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Solar cell compound probed under pressure
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
Gallium arsenide, GaAs, a semiconductor composed of gallium and arsenic is well known to have physical properties that promise practical applications. In the form of nanowires and nanoparticles, it has particular potential for use in the manufacture of solar cells and optoelectronics in many of the same applications that silicon is commonly used.
But the natural semiconducting ability of G ...
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Engineers show light can play seesaw at the nanoscale
Minneapolis MN (SPX) Sep 26, 2014 -
University of Minnesota electrical engineering researchers have developed a unique nanoscale device that for the first time demonstrates mechanical transportation of light. The discovery could have major implications for creating faster and more efficient optical devices for computation and communication.
The research paper by University of Minnesota electrical and computer engineering ass ...
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