Researchers have attempted (and failed) to make gold nitride for the past 20 years, until now. A scientist at Newcastle University’s School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, Dr. Lidija Siller, reports that she has successfully created gold nitride and that she believes it is harder and more durable than gold alloys currently available on the market. This could translate into much thinner gold plating layers, which would reduce manufacturing costs for the electronics industry. Siller stresses that more tests are needed to explore the technology’s full potential.

Are Organic Semiconductors Poised to be the Next “New Thing?
CAMBRIDGE, UK
The discovery of organic material–‘plastics’–that are capable of exhibiting similar electrical properties to silicon semiconductors has opened up the possibility of creating a range of electronic devices that have the characteristics of being thin, smart, flexible, low cost and eventually completely disposable.