Research

Researchers at the Tokyo University of Science have designed a scalable, fully-coupled annealing processor with 4096 spins, with parallelized capabilities for accelerated problem-solving Annealing processors are designed specifically for addressing combinatorial optimisation problems, where the task is to find the best solution from a finite set of possibilities. With CMOS  ICs it is necessary for the components of annealing processors ...

A team of engineers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst set themselves the task instrumenting cardiac tissue as it is grown outside the body to study heart disease. Artists impression over photo: “Cardiac tissue is very special,” said Jun Yao of UMass Amherst’s college of engineering. “It has a mechanical activity – contractions and relaxations that pump blood through our ...

Semiconductor devices fabricated in 2021 have a CO2 equivalent footprint of about 175 megatonnes, equivalent to the yearly emissions associated with about 30 million people. Using imec.netzero, a virtual fab model developed in the frame of imec’s Sustainable Semiconductor Technologies and Systems (SSTS) program, imec showed that together, lithography and etch contribute over 40% of advanced logic node Scope 1 ...

Perovskite solar cells can be made in the open air rather than in an inert atmosphere, according to an international research team. Working with p–i–n perovskite solar cells, they added dimethylammonium formate to the perovskite precursors to inhibit the oxidization of iodide ions and deprotonation of organic cations. The cells achieved nearly 25% efficiency (1.53eV cell), and retained 90% of ...

P-channel diamond mosfets have been made many times because the carbon bulk can be doped with boron, or surface hydrogen can pull appropriate carriers into the channel. N-channel diamond mosfets have not proved so easy, blocking the route to diamond CMOS and all the high-voltage (bandgap = 5.5eV), high temperature and high thermal conductivity advantages that it might bring. Now ...

Red phosphorus is a potential anode material for lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries, but like sodium itself, its positive values are counter-balanced by considerable challenges. Academics in China and Poland have done a detailed systematic review of phosphorus anode research, which has been published for anyone to read. “The development of cost-effective and high-performance red phosphorus anode materials for Li-ion and ...

Imec, the Spanish government and the regional government of Andalusia have signed an MoU outlining their intent to establish a specialised 300mm IC pilot line in Malaga, Andalusia. The facility intends to complement Imec’s existing 300mm advanced CMOS process line in Leuven, Belgium, with new 300mm processes developments and the introduction of new materials that are difficult to combine today ...

Key areas where flexible electronics are having a commercial impact are examined by Liam Critchley, who finds smaller companies are carving their own industry niches. The growth of advanced fabrication methods, small-scale nanomaterials and the ability to embed flexible circuitry and components into polymeric hosts have given rise to flexible electronics with advanced functionalities. This has become a popular way ...

Imec has unveiled another pioneering design – the nanowell FET. Building upon traditional FinFET principles, this innovation introduces an additional well in the nanowire that further enhances the sensitivity of the device. The device features a 35-40nm wide silicon FinFET with a 25nm nanowell as the active sensing area. Within the well, binding of an estimated ten short single-stranded DNA ...

Birmingham University is looking for licensees and commercial development partners for patented technologies for  power system frequency control and forced oscillations which can cause widespread disruption over entire power grids. Professor Xiao-Ping Zhang (pictured) Chair in Electrical Power Systems at Birmingham’s Department of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering, and his researchers have  developed technologies to overcome these challenges. Grid frequency ...