Transistors are semiconductor devices that regulate current, amplify signals, and act as switches, forming the foundation of modern electronics.
A study has unlocked new dimensions in understanding the ultrafast processes of charge and energy transfer at the microscale. The research delves into the dynamics of microscopic particles, providing insights that could revolutionize semiconductor and electronic device development.
Researchers at EPFL have discovered that by shining different wavelengths (colors) of light on a material called magnetite, they can change its state, e.g., making it more or less conducive to electricity. The discovery could lead to new ways of designing new materials for electronics such as memory storage, sensors, and other devices that rely on fast and efficient material responses.
A groundbreaking way of measuring fluid buildup in the body allows chronic heart failure patients to monitor their condition and treat it independently with a physician-approved response.
Tel Aviv-based startup Vectorious has created a tiny pressure sensor that is implanted directly into the heart. It is the only sensor in the world that measures the pressure in the left atrium (one of the heart’s two upper chambers) and is able to identify increases in that pressure caused by a buildup of fluid in the body.
This data on the left atrial pressure (LAP) is then transmitted to an app for the patient and their doctor.
A research team has utilized solid-state spin quantum sensors to scrutinize exotic spin-spin-velocity-dependent interactions (SSIVDs) at short force ranges, reporting new experimental results between electron spins. Their work has been published in Physical Review Letters.
The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) has developed a novel quantum sensor technology that allows the measurement of perturbations in the infrared region with visible light by leveraging the phenomenon of quantum entanglement. This will enable low-cost, high-performance IR optical measurement, which previously accompanied limitations in delivering quality results.
Lighting a gas grill, getting an ultrasound, using an ultrasonic toothbrush ⎯ these actions involve the use of materials that can translate an electric voltage into a change in shape and vice versa.
Known as piezoelectricity, the ability to trade between mechanical stress and electric charge can be harnessed widely in capacitors, actuators, transducers, and sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes for next-generation electronics. However, integrating these materials into miniaturized systems has been difficult due to the tendency of electromechanically active materials to ⎯ at the submicrometer scale, when the thickness is just a few millionths of an inch ⎯ get “clamped” down by the material they are attached to, which significantly dials down their performance.
Rice University researchers and collaborators at the University of California, Berkeley have found that a class of electromechanically active materials called antiferroelectrics may hold the key to overcoming performance limitations due to clamping in miniaturized electromechanical systems. A new study published in Nature Materials reports that a model antiferroelectric system, lead zirconate (PbZrO3), produces an electromechanical response that can be up to five times greater than that of conventional piezoelectric materials even in films that are only 100 nanometers (or 4 millionths of an inch) thick.
Lying between the microwave and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, the terahertz (1 THz = 10¹² Hz) gap is being rapidly closed by development of new terahertz sources and detectors, with promising applications in spectroscopy, imaging, sensing, and communication.
These applications greatly benefit from terahertz sources delivering high-energy or high-average-power radiation. On the other hand, high-intensity or strong-field terahertz sources are essential to observe or exploit novel nonlinear terahertz-matter interactions, where the electric and/or magnetic field strengths play a key role.
The team of scientists, led by Dr. Chul Kang from Advanced Photonics Research Institute, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Korea, and Professor Ki-Yong Kim from Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, U.S., has created the world’s strongest terahertz fields of 260 megavolts per centimeter (MV/cm) or equivalent peak intensity of 9 × 10¹³ watts per square centimeter (W/cm²).
The public’s appetite for inexpensive and powerful electronic devices continues to grow. While silicon-based semiconductors have been key to satiating this demand, a superior alternative could be wide-bandgap semiconductors. These materials, which operate at higher temperatures and handle increased power loads, are unfortunately very expensive.
Light measurement devices called optical frequency combs have revolutionized metrology, spectroscopy, atomic clocks, and other applications. Yet challenges with developing frequency comb generators at a microchip scale have limited their use in everyday technologies such as handheld electronics.
