Wednesday, 8. October 2008, 09:46:04
Computer, nanotechnology, BCP, silicon
University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) researchers have developed new nanoscale structures that will help to speed up computers. This research project was funded by IBM, Intel and other partners including the U.S. National Science Foundation. This new manufacturing process is called block co-polymer lithography (or BCP). The scientists ‘have created a way to make square, nanoscale, chemical patterns — from the bottom up — that may be used in the manufacture of integrated circuit chips as early as 2011.’
This new process for creating features on silicon wafers that are between five and 20 nanometers thick has been developed by a multidisciplinary team led by Craig Hawker, materials professor and director of the Materials Research Laboratory at UCSB and the members of his research group. Hawker worked with professors Glenn Fredrickson — and his research group — and Edward Kramer — and his research group.
Source:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=1050
Monday, 18. August 2008, 07:29:18
silicon, photography, wide-angle, camera
Mimicking the curves of a human retina has enabled a digital image sensor to take wide-angle pictures without distortion. This is possible thanks to an improved method of transferring silicon sensors onto a curved surface.The electronic eyeball design can allow small cameras to capture wide-angle views with low distortion. That could be useful in a range of situations, from policing, to attaching cameras to wildlife.
Conventional film and digital cameras use a flat surface to capture an image and as a result are unable to capture a wide field of view without distortion. Optics designed to correct such distortions can be complex and expensive.Silicon doesn't bend easily and can't be forced into a hemispherical form without creases appearing in the material.
John Rogers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne and colleagues have now worked out a way around those problems, using conventional chip manufacturing technology.
Source:
http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14477-artificial-eyeball-does-away-with-distortion.html
Monday, 7. April 2008, 09:12:08
integrated circuits, silicon, electronics
The first elastic, foldable, integrated silicon circuits could take previously brittle electronics to new locations, including the surface of the human brain.
John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US, and colleagues made flexible silicon and plastic circuits that are just 1.5 micrometres thick.
"Making it thin makes it bendable, just as a piece of paper is bendable whereas a piece of wood is not," Rogers says. The silicon in the circuits is just one crystal thick. Until now integrated circuits had been limited by a dependence on much thicker, brittle silicon wafers.
As well as being thin, the circuits are designed so that the plastic, and not the silicon, absorbs most of the stress when the chips are bent. The final product is a chip so flexible it can be folded around the edges of a US one cent coin, Rogers says.
Source:
http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13546-stretchy-circuits-promise-elastic-gadgets.html
Thursday, 20. December 2007, 09:20:55
silicon, graphene, transistor, chip technology
...
Intel has developed a new kind of transistor, made of a material other than silicon, that has the potential to be faster and use less electricity than today's chips. And, crucially, the new transistors are economical and could be fabricated using existing manufacturing facilities because they can be built directly on top of standard silicon wafers. Such chips made with these nonsilicon components are still at least a decade away, but industry experts believe that they are one of the more promising options to replace silicon in the coming years.
As transistors get increasingly small, the silicon that composes them doesn't work as well: electricity leaks through the layers, causing excess heat and faulty logic. Researchers at Intel and other chip-making companies such as AMD and IBM, as well as at universities around the world, are scrambling to find a replacement for silicon. Some suspect that carbon nanotubes or another carbon material called graphene could be the answer.
But others are putting money and research into compound semiconductors, a class of semiconductor that is made from a combination of elements from the third and fifth columns of the periodic table.
Source:
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19882/
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