http://www.pcb007.com/ PCB fabricator news from around the world: PCB007 - Science & Technology A team of researchers from the U.S. and France report the development of a mirco-supercapacitor with remarkable properties. These micro-supercapacitors have the potential to power nomad electronics, wireless sensor networks, biomedical implants, active radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags and embedded microsensors, among other devices. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70985 Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:31:00 GMT A pioneering study by researchers of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has shown that sandwiching a simple layer of silver nanoparticles can significantly improve the performance of organic transistors which are commonly used in consumer electronics. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70984 Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:18:00 GMT Researchers at McGill University's Department of Chemistry have now discovered how to control the piezoelectric effect in nanoscale semiconductors called "quantum dots," enabling the development of incredibly tiny new products. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70911 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:44:00 GMT A new optical antenna could improve the efficiency of devices that handle just a few photons at a time, such as quantum computers and quantum cryptography circuits. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70909 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:29:00 GMT The Institute of Microelectronics (IME), a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, has announced a collaborative partnership with Stanford University to develop silicon nanowire-based circuits that are inspired by the brain. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70896 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:48:00 GMT Exploiting one of the quantum world's strangest effects could lead to a new generation of switches that can handle quantum information. The quantum zeno effect offers a surprising and counter-intuitive way of controlling quantum systems that are changing from one state to another. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70894 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:38:00 GMT Nanoscale simulations and theoretical research performed at the Department of Energy's ORNL are bringing scientists closer to realizing graphene's potential in electronic applications. A research team led by Bobby Sumpter, Vincent Meunier and Eduardo Cruz-Silva has discovered how loops develop in graphene, an electrically conductive high-strength low-weight material that resembles an atomic-scale honeycomb. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70889 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:21:00 GMT Imagine building cheaper electronics on a variety of substrates--materials like plastic, paper or fabric. Researchers at Taiwan's National Chiao Tung University have made a discovery that opens this door, allowing them to build electronic components like diodes on many different substrates. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70830 Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:49:00 GMT Scientists from Empa and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research report how they have managed, for the first time, to grow graphene ribbons that are just a few nanometres wide using a simple surface-based chemical method. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70800 Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:12:00 GMT Heat treatment improves the superconductivity of a ceramic copper oxide by creating a fractal network of connected channels of ordered oxygen defects. The green and red spheres represent the paired electrons responsible for superconductivity. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70577 Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:46:00 GMT Imagine creating novel devices with amazing and exotic optical properties not found in nature--by simply evaporating a droplet of particles on a surface. By chemically building clusters of nanospheres from a liquid, a team of Harvard researchers, in collaboration with scientists at Rice University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston, has developed just that. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70766 Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:56:00 GMT Ho-hum to high-performance: A boring material, when "stretched," could lead to an electronics revolution. The oxide compound europium titanate is pretty boring on its own, but, sliced nanometers thin and physically stretched on a specially designed template, it takes on properties that could revolutionize the electronics industry. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70741 Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:06:00 GMT In the quest for efficient, cost-effective and commercially viable fuel cells, researchers at Cornell's Energy Materials Center have discovered a catalyst--platinum nanoparticles--that could make fuel cells more stable, longer lasting and more resistant to carbon monoxide poisoning. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70740 Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:00:00 GMT The €1.7 million EU-funded InForm project, involving 17 world-leading research institutions working together, is bringing together scientists to make the new advances in nanotechnology practical and useful, by combining them into things we use everyday. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70738 Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:32:00 GMT In a new paper, Dr. Stephen Jenkins of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge highlights novel electronic properties of the half-metallic alloy NiMnSb. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70597 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:33:00 GMT EnSol is working with experts in the University of Leicester Department of Physics and Astronomy to develop the revolutionary new type of solar cell material that could be coated as a thin film on, for example, windows in buildings to produce power on a large scale. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70595 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:35:00 GMT A new paper by University of Notre Dame physicist Boldizsár Jankó and colleagues offers an important new understanding of an enduring mystery in chemical physics. The study reveals that that the on- and off-time intervals of intermittent nanocrystal quantum dots follow universal power law distributions. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70583 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:01:00 GMT A new technology enabling MEMS to "self-calibrate" could make possible super-accurate and precise sensors for crime-scene forensics, environmental testing and medical diagnostics. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70582 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:56:00 GMT Researchers at Ohio State University have demonstrated the first plastic computer memory device that utilizes the spin of electrons to read and write data. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70579 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:27:00 GMT ORNL scientists rewrote computational code for the numerical Hubbard model that previously assumed copper-compound superconducting materials known as cuprates to be homogenous--the same electron density--from atom to atom. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70575 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:31:00 GMT Advance in metamaterials leads to a new semiconductor laser suitable for security screening, chemical sensing and astronomy http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70572 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:01:00 GMT A team of Harvard physicists led by Mikhail D. Lukin has achieved the first-ever quantum entanglement of photons and solid-state materials. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70571 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:51:00 GMT High-performance computing is advancing at such a clip that designers are turning to nanotechnology to address upcoming system requirements. But research into photonic based nano interconnects will not be confined to supercomputing systems; Qualcomm is exploring how nanotechnology can be used in future mobile devices. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70568 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:03:00 GMT Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the National Institute of Standards and Technology describe for the first time how the orbits of electrons are distributed spatially by magnetic fields applied to layers of epitaxial graphene. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70564 Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:14:00 GMT A European collaboration which is being led by a researcher at DCU will revolutionize the way blood tests, such as cholesterol, are performed. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70558 Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:07:00 GMT Disposable razor blades could become a thing of the past if scientists at GFD have their way. The German high-tech company has developed a super-sharp razor blade made of industrial diamonds that could last more than 1,000 times longer than today's conventional blade. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70435 Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:46:00 GMT Researchers have overcome a fundamental obstacle in using new "metamaterials" for radical advances in optical technologies, including ultra-powerful microscopes and computers and a possible invisibility cloak. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70434 Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:37:00 GMT Researchers at UCLA have now developed a microfluidic image cytometry (MIC) platform that can measure cell-signaling pathways in brain tumor samples at the single-cell level. The new technology combines the advantages of microfluidics and microscopy-based cell imaging. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70417 Mon, 09 Aug 2010 13:53:00 GMT Hitachi High-Technologies' HT7700 is a new type of transmission electron microscope that integrates previously complex system operation onto a single monitor screen and allows for sample observation even under normal room light conditions. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70411 Mon, 09 Aug 2010 13:30:00 GMT Working with the unique nanoscience capabilities of the Molecular Foundry at the U.S. DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a team of researchers has developed the first model of signal-to-noise-ratios for low frequency noises in graphene on silica. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70406 Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:49:00 GMT Jonathan Coleman, Professor of Physics at Trinity College Dublin and one of Irelands' leading nanoscientists, has been awarded a prestigious European Research Council Starter Grant of €1.5 million for development of next-generation materials. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70398 Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:41:00 GMT Researchers were able to time the oscillations between simultaneously produced quantum states of valence electrons with great precision. "With a simple system of krypton atoms, we demonstrated, for the first time, that we can measure transient absorption dynamics with attosecond pulses," says Stephen Leone of Berkeley Lab's Chemical Sciences Division. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70397 Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:28:00 GMT A new paper from the lab of Rice chemist James Tour demonstrates an environmentally friendly way to make bulk quantities of graphene oxide (GO), an insulating version of single-atom-thick graphene expected to find use in all kinds of material and electronic applications. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70327 Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:20:00 GMT Nabil Mistkawi, a new Portland State University (PSU) chemistry graduate and full-time Intel employee, has invented a one-of-a-kind chemical formulation that enables sub-50 nanometer (nm) process technology for advanced microprocessors manufacturing. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70270 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:22:00 GMT Developers at OSRAM Opto Semiconductors have succeeded in increasing the efficiency of red thin-film LEDs by 30% - a new record. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70288 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:08:00 GMT Graphene, the extraordinary form of carbon that consists of a single layer of carbon atoms, has produced another in a long list of experimental surprises. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70287 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:58:00 GMT Two scientists working in Europe have paved the way for improved plastic electronics by devising a technique that can be used to take images of plastic mixtures on the nanoscale simultaneously in the body of the material and at the surface. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70286 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:45:00 GMT What researchers might call "white graphene" may be the perfect sidekick for the real thing as a new era unfolds in nanoscale electronics. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70285 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:39:00 GMT Study of quantum phase changes reveals surprising relationship between magnetism and electricity http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70284 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:34:00 GMT Researchers have discovered mechanisms critical to interactions between hot plasma and surfaces facing the plasma inside a thermonuclear fusion reactor, part of work aimed at developing coatings capable of withstanding the grueling conditions inside the reactors. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70219 Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:20:00 GMT Purdue University will lead a new research center to improve photovoltaic solar cells as part of a national effort to bring alternative energy technologies to the marketplace. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70217 Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:17:00 GMT Researchers have shown that an advanced cooling technology being developed for high-power electronics in military and automotive systems is capable of handling roughly 10 times the heat generated by conventional computer chips. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70209 Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:24:00 GMT To trap and hold tiny microparticles, research engineers at Harvard have "put a ring on it," using a silicon-based circular resonator to confine particles stably for up to several minutes. The advance, published recently in "Nano Letters," could one day lead to the ability to direct, deliver and store nanoparticles and biomolecules on all-optical chips. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70203 Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:37:00 GMT Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have cultivated many thousands of nanocrystals in what looks like a pinscreen or "pin art" on silicon, a step toward reliable mass production of semiconductor nanowires for millionths-of-a-meter-scale devices such as sensors and lasers. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70196 Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:38:00 GMT The conversion of light into energy and electrical conductivity is part of the future for a plastics industry undergoing massive change. Flexible plastics-based solar cells, printed batteries, smart materials or bio-analysis on a plastic chip will be much in demand in the near future. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70119 Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:19:00 GMT Intel Creates World's First End-to-End Silicon Photonics Connection with Integrated Lasers; Could Revolutionize Computer Design, Dramatically Increase Performance, Save Energy http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70109 Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:31:00 GMT Scientists are reporting an in-depth validation of the discovery of the world's first mass producible, low-cost, organoclays for plastics. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70062 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:13:00 GMT Collaboration by chemists, physicists and materials scientists at the University of Pennsylvania has created a simple and inexpensive method to rapidly grow centimeter-scale membranes of binary nanocrystal superlattices, or BNSLs, by crystallizing a mixture of nanocrystals on a liquid surface. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70038 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:43:00 GMT A team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Materials Research Science Engineering Center made a leap forward in modern spintronics, potentially revolutionizing information technology through reduced power consumption, faster processing speed and improved function compared to today's electronics. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70036 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:23:00 GMT Scientists at the University of Liverpool have constructed molecular 'knots' with dimensions of around two nanometers (2 x 10-9 nm) - around 30,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70034 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:56:00 GMT Chemists from New York University and Russia's St. Petersburg State University have created crystals that can twist and untwist, pointing to a much more varied process of crystal growth than previously thought. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70033 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:41:00 GMT Physicists in the U.S. and Germany have discovered a way to use a gallium arsenide nanodevice as a signal processor at terahertz speeds, the first time it's been used for this purpose. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70025 Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:32:00 GMT New method creates super-thin, high-integrity, continuous metal lines that surpass today’s semiconductor industry requirements. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70024 Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:24:00 GMT Scientists from Empa and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research report how they have managed to grow graphene ribbons that are just a few nanometres wide using a simple surface-based chemical method. Graphene ribbons are considered to be hot candidates for future electronics applications. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=70003 Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:41:00 GMT The Institute of Microelectronics, a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, today announced a collaborative partnership with Stanford University to develop silicon nanowire based circuits that are inspired by the brain. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69961 Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:34:00 GMT In a development that could lead to novel carbon composites and touch-screen displays, researchers from Rice University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have unveiled a new method for producing bulk quantities of one-atom-thick sheets of carbon called graphene. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69896 Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:38:00 GMT Andrei Varykhalov and colleagues deposited a thin layer of graphene onto a nickel substrate using chemical vapour deposition starting with propylene. Next, they inserted individual fullerene molecules between the nickel surface and the graphene layer. They achieved this by rapidly heating the sample to 400°C, followed by brief annealing. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69881 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:49:00 GMT Swiss and German materials scientists have created simple networks of organic nanowires for future electronic and optoelectronic components. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69880 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:39:00 GMT Recently, scientists have focused on trying to understand and control an electronic phase called the "pseudogap" phase, which is non-superconducting and is observed at a temperature above the superconducting phase. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69876 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:32:00 GMT University of Illinois engineers have developed a novel direct-writing method for manufacturing metal interconnects that could shrink integrated circuits and expand microelectronics. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69874 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:25:00 GMT Imec tkes major step toward 20nm half pitch interconnects with the realization of electrically functional copper lines embedded into silicon oxide using a spacer-defined double patterning approach. "We are very proud to be the world's first in developing and processing such small on-pitch working interconnects," said Zsolt Tokei, Program Director Interconnects. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69861 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:14:00 GMT Conventional wisdom holds that optical microscopy can't be used to "see" something as small as an individual molecule, but science has once again overturned conventional wisdom. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69850 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:34:00 GMT MIT researchers create fibers that can detect and produce sound. Could lead to clothes that capture speech, tiny filaments to measure blood flow or pressure. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69747 Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:33:00 GMT Metallic carbon nanotubes show great promise for applications from microelectronics to power lines because of their ballistic transmission of electrons. But who knew magnets could stop those electrons in their tracks? http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69663 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:40:00 GMT In the development of future molecular devices, new display technologies, and "artificial muscles" in nanoelectromechanical devices, functional molecules are likely to play a primary role. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69661 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:08:00 GMT Graphene-Rubber Nanocomposites Offers Similar Characteristics like Carbon Nanotube Composites but Are Much Cheaper to Make http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69660 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 07:32:00 GMT A new technique that takes control of the Casimir effect – a strange quantum phenomenon that gums up nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) – may pave the way to a switch that could cut the power consumption of nanoscale gadgets. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69659 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 07:26:00 GMT While those wonderful light sabers in the Star Wars films remain the figment of George Lucas' fertile imagination, light mills - rotary motors driven by light - that can power objects thousands of times greater in size are now fact. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69658 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 07:21:00 GMT The NASA engineer responsible for the batteries needed for spacewalks now is working at the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory to help design safer lithium-ion battery packs for sky walkers and automobile drivers alike. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69657 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 06:51:00 GMT Four inventions from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been recognized with the R&D 100 award for 2010 from R&D Magazine, which recognizes the 100 most significant proven technological advances of the year. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69652 Sun, 11 Jul 2010 19:50:00 GMT Scientists from the EU-funded TERAMAGSTOR (Terabit magnetic storage technologies) project are now aiming to push the boundaries even further with a hard disk that has the storage density capacity of one terabit per square inch (1 Tbit/in2). http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69651 Sun, 11 Jul 2010 19:44:00 GMT At first, nanoshocks may seem like something to describe the millions of aftershocks of a large earthquake. But Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicists are using an ultra-fast laser-based technique they dubbed "nanoshocks" for something entirely different. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69650 Sun, 11 Jul 2010 19:41:00 GMT Sandia Labs reports first successful integration of a terahertz quantum-cascade laser and diode mixer into a monolithic solid-state transceiver. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69648 Sun, 11 Jul 2010 18:23:00 GMT Scientists working at the Advanced Light Source at DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered striking new details about the electronic structure of graphene, crystalline sheets of carbon just one atom thick. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69647 Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:53:00 GMT In the search for a better alternative, a team led by William Dichtel, assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology, has discovered a simple process for building an organic molecular framework that could pave the way for the development of more economical, flexible and versatile solar cells. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69580 Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:31:00 GMT Nanotube circuits that combine speed and low power might drive flexible displays. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69556 Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:22:00 GMT Scientists from Singapore A*STAR's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, University of Cambridge and Sungkyunkwan University (South Korea) have created metallic lines so thin and smooth that they can only be seen using powerful electron microscopes. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69527 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:11:00 GMT Team discovers simple process for building an organic molecular framework that could pave the way for the development of more economical, flexible and versatile solar cells. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69507 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:49:00 GMT Making better solar cells: Cornell University researchers have discovered a simple process - employing molecules typically used in blue jean and ink dyes - for building an organic framework that could lead to economical, flexible and versatile solar cells. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69506 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:44:00 GMT Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new way to shape ceramics using a modest electric field, making the process significantly more energy efficient. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69505 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:37:00 GMT Researchers from UCL have won a £25,000 prize for developing technology that could be used to improve medical imaging, target the delivery of drugs and much more. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69501 Mon, 05 Jul 2010 18:09:00 GMT RoseStreet Labs Energy, Inc. (RSLE) announced today a breakthrough laboratory demonstration of the first known multiband photovoltaic device featuring three distinct light absorption regions integrated into a single layer thin film device. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69498 Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:22:00 GMT Savi Technology, a Lockheed Martin company providing real-time supply chain and asset management solutions, today unveiled a state-of-the-art Radio Frequency system-on-a-chip (SoC) about the size of a dime that streamlines design and development processes of DASH7 RFID-based tracking devices. http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=69485 Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:34:00 GMT