Tag Archives: letter-dd-tech

In the late 18th century, Ernst Chladni, a scientist and musician, discovered that the vibrations of a rigid plate could be visualized by covering it with a thin layer of sand and drawing a bow across its edge. With the bow movement, the sand bounces and shifts, collecting along the nodal lines of the vibration. Chladni’s discovery of these patterns earned him the nickname, “father of acoustics.” His discovery is still used in the design and construction of acoustic instruments, such as guitars and violins.

Recently, investigators have discovered a similar effect with much smaller vibrating objects excited by light waves. When laser light is used to drive the motion of a thin, rigid membrane, it plays the role of the bow in Chladni’s original experiment and the membrane vibrates in resonance with the light. The resulting patterns can be visualized through an array of quantum dots (QDs), where these tiny structures emit light at a frequency that responds to movement. The advance is reported this week in a cover article of Applied Physics Letters, by AIP Publishing.

Background: Image of a Chladni plate's mode of vibration visualized by grains of sand collected at the nodes. Left-top: Cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy image of an indium arsenide quantum dot. Left-bottom: Variation of quantum dot emission line frequencies as a function of time due to vibrations of the photonic crystal membrane. Right: Scanning electron micrograph of a photonic crystal membrane, displaced according to one of the vibrational modes, with red and blue representing positive and negative displacement, respectively. Credit: Sam Carter and co-authors

Background: Image of a Chladni plate’s mode of vibration visualized by grains of sand collected at the nodes. Left-top: Cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy image of an indium arsenide quantum dot. Left-bottom: Variation of quantum dot emission line frequencies as a function of time due to vibrations of the photonic crystal membrane. Right: Scanning electron micrograph of a photonic crystal membrane, displaced according to one of the vibrational modes, with red and blue representing positive and negative displacement, respectively. Credit: Sam Carter and co-authors

In addition to being a modern take on an old phenomenon, the new discovery could lead to the development of sensing devices as well as methods for controlling the emission characteristics of QDs. Since the light frequency emitted by the QDs is correlated with the movement of the underlying membrane, new devices for sensing motion, such as accelerometers, can be envisioned. A reverse application is also possible since the motion of the underlying membrane can be used to control the frequency of light emitted by the QDs.

The tiny devices in the work reported here consist of a 180-nanometer thick slice of semiconductor, suspended like a trampoline above a solid substrate. An array of QDs, analogous to the sand in the acoustic example, are embedded in the slice, whose thickness is less than one-tenth of one percent that of a human hair.

A second probe laser is used to visualize the resulting resonances. The QDs absorb the probe light and emit a second light pulse in response, which is picked up by a detector and routed to a display. The resulting patterns are remarkably like those visualized in Chladni’s original acoustic experiment, even though the new device is driven entirely by light.

One possible application of this discovery, according to Sam Carter of the Naval Research Lab who is one of the paper’s authors, is to sense subtle forces produced by nearby dense objects. “Concealed nuclear materials could be detectable,” he said, “since dense materials like lead are used to shield the devices.”

The highly dense shielding needed for nuclear materials causes small gravitational anomalies and tiny movements that might be detectable by a device based on the principle discovered here. The investigators plan to continue their work by looking at electronic spin. It is hoped that techniques to measure the effect on spin will increase the sensitivity of the devices.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI) today debuted two significant technology breakthroughs at the largest fintech innovation event, Money 20/20, October 22-25, 2017, in Las Vegas. The company will showcase its new contactless fingerprint-on-card solution while also demonstrating a new world benchmark for payment card transactions speeds.

Fingerprint sensors on payment cards

The fingerprint-on-card solution gives payment network operators and banks a secure, convenient and fast payment card option to consumers. Coupling dual interface cards with an integrated fingerprint sensor enables faster transactions without the need for end-users to enter a PIN number.

“The result provides a secure and dramatically more convenient way for consumers to make payments. The convenience provided by mobile payment in today’s NFC-based mobile wallets can now be replicated with cards. It is also ideal for use in other form factors and applications such as electronic passports,” said Rafael Sotomayor, senior vice president and general manager of secure transactions and identification business. “The breakthrough reinforces NXP’s commitment to the payment and secure identification space by helping our customers deliver next-generation applications and solutions to the market.”

To ensure a lower barrier of entry for card makers, the company’s secure fingerprint authentication solution on cards does not require a battery and easily fits into standard card maker equipment as part of the broader payment ecosystem. Cards with fingerprint authentication are fully compliant with existing EMVCo point-of-sales (POS) systems.

New Benchmark for Blazing Transaction Speeds

Demonstrating seamless, fast, and smart card transaction experiences, the NXP high-performance platform makes it possible to achieve M/Chip transactions speeds of <200 ms, surpassing the industry requirement of 300 ms.

“This increased level of performance offers flexibility to add new features or higher crypto countermeasures and still meet current industry transaction requirement,” said Sotomayor. “The requirement for faster payment transaction will continue, and NXP is committed to providing the performance to meet these needs and make contactless transactions faster and flawless.”

NXP Demonstrations at Money 20/20 Las Vegas 2017

NXP will demonstrate these technology breakthroughs at its exclusive reception on October 24, 2017, in The Venetian.

The phenomenon that forms interference patterns on television displays when a camera focuses on a pattern like a person wearing stripes has inspired a new way to conceptualize electronic devices. Researchers at the University of Illinois are showing how the atomic-scale version of this phenomenon may hold the secrets to help advance electronics design to the limits of size and speed.

In their new study, mechanical science and engineering professor Harley Johnson his co-authors recast a detail previously seen as a defect in nanomaterial design to a concept that could reshape the way engineers design electronics. The team, which also includes mechanical science and engineering graduate student Brian McGuigan and French collaborators Pascal Pochet and Johann Coraux, published its findings in the journal Applied Materials Today.

On display screens, moire patterns occur when the pixelation is at almost the same scale as a photographed pattern, Johnson said, or when two thin layers of a material with a periodic structure, like sheer fabrics and window screens, are placed on top of each other slightly askew.

At the macro scale, moires are optical phenomena that do not form tangible objects. However, when these patterns occur at the atomic level, arrangements of electrons are locked into place by atomic forces to form nanoscale wires capable of transmitting electricity, the researchers said.

“Two-dimensional materials – thin films engineered to be of single-atom thickness – create moire patterns when stacked on top of each other and are skewed, stretched, compressed or twisted,” Johnson said. “The moire emerges as atoms form linear areas of high electron density. The resulting lines create what is essentially an extremely thin wire.”

For decades, physicists observed microscope images of atomic arrangements of 2-D thin films and recognized them as periodic arrays of small defects known as dislocations, but Johnson’s group is the first to note that these are also common moire patterns.

“A moire pattern is simply an array of dislocations, and an array of dislocations is a moire pattern – it goes both ways,” Johnson said. This realization opened the door to what Johnson’s group refers to as moire engineering – what could lead to a new way to manufacture the smallest, lightest and fastest electronics.

By manipulating the orientation of stacked layers of 2-D thin films like graphene, wires of single-atom thickness can be assembled, building the foundation to write nanocircuitry. A wire of single-atom thickness is the limit of thinness. The thinner the wire, the faster electrons can travel, meaning this technology has the potential to produce the quickest transmitting wires and circuits possible, the researchers said.

“There is always the question of how to connect to a circuit that small,” Johnson said. “There is still a lot of work to be done in finding ways to stitch together 2-D materials in a way that could produce a device.”

In the meantime, Johnson’s group is focusing on types of devices that can be made using moire engineering.

“Being able to engineer the moire pattern itself is a path to new lightweight and less-intrusive devices that could have applications in the biomedical and space industries,” he said. “The possibilities are limited only by the imagination of engineers.”

Scientists at the University of Sussex may have found a solution to the long-standing problem of brittle smart phone screens.

Professor Alan Dalton and his team have developed a new way to make smart phone touch screens that are cheaper, less brittle, and more environmentally friendly. On top of that, the new approach also promises devices that use less energy, are more responsive, and do not tarnish in the air.

Dr. Matthew Large, University of Sussex, flexes a screen made from acrylic plastic coated in silver nanowires and grapheme to illustrate the kind of touch screens that can potentially be produced using the new approach Credit: Dr. Matthew Large

Dr. Matthew Large, University of Sussex, flexes a screen made from acrylic plastic coated in silver nanowires and grapheme to illustrate the kind of touch screens that can potentially be produced using the new approach Credit: Dr. Matthew Large

The problem has been that indium tin oxide, which is currently used to make smart phone screens, is brittle and expensive. The primary constituent, indium, is also a rare metal and is ecologically damaging to extract. Silver, which has been shown to be the best alternative to indium tin oxide, is also expensive. The breakthrough from physicists at the University of Sussex has been to combine silver nanowires with graphene – a two dimensional carbon material. The new hybrid material matches the performance of the existing technologies at a fraction of the cost.

In particular, the way in which these materials are assembled is new. Graphene is a single layer of atoms, and can float on water. By creating a stamp – a bit like a potato stamp a child might make – the scientists can pick up the layer of atoms and lay it on top of the silver nanowire film in a pattern. The stamp itself is made from poly(dimethyl siloxane); the same kind of silicone rubber used in kitchen utensils and medical implants.

Professor Alan Dalton from the school of Maths and Physical Science at the University of Sussex, says:

“While silver nanowires have been used in touch screens before, no one has tried to combine them with graphene. What’s exciting about what we’re doing is the way we put the graphene layer down. We float the graphene particles on the surface of water, then pick them up with a rubber stamp, a bit like a potato stamp, and lay it on top of the silver nanowire film in whatever pattern we like. “And this breakthrough technique is inherently scalable. It would be relatively simple to combine silver nanowires and graphene in this way on a large scale using spraying machines and patterned rollers. This means that brittle mobile phone screens might soon be a thing of the past.

“The addition of graphene to the silver nanowire network also increases its ability to conduct electricity by around a factor of ten thousand. This means we can use a fraction of the amount of silver to get the same, or better, performance. As a result screens will be more responsive and use less power.”

Dr Matthew Large, lead researcher on the project within the school of Maths and Physical Science at the University of Sussex, says:

“Although silver is also a rare metal, like indium, the amount we need to coat a given area is very small when combined with graphene. Since graphene is produced from natural graphite – which is relatively abundant – the cost for making a touch sensor drops dramatically.

“One of the issues with using silver is that it tarnishes in air. What we’ve found is that the graphene layer prevents this from happening by stopping contaminants in the air from attacking the silver. “What we’ve also seen is that when we bend the hybrid films repeatedly the electrical properties don’t change, whereas you see a drift in the films without graphene that people have developed previously. This paves the way towards one day developing completely flexible devices.”

The 63rd annual IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), to be held December 2-6, 2017 at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square hotel, may go down as one of the most memorable editions for the sheer variety and depth of its talks, sessions, courses and events.

Among the most-anticipated talks are presentations by Intel and Globalfoundries, which will each detail their forthcoming competing FinFET transistor technology platforms in a session on Wednesday morning. FinFET transistors are a major driver of the continuing progress of the electronics industry, and these platforms are as important for their commercial potential as they are for their technical innovations.*

Each year at the IEDM, the world’s best technologists in micro/nano/bioelectronics converge to participate in a technical program consisting of more than 220 presentations, along with other events.

“Those who attend IEDM 2017 will find much that is familiar, beginning with a technical program describing breakthroughs in areas ranging from mainstream CMOS technology to innovative nanoelectronics to medical devices. The Sunday Short Courses are also a perennial favorite because they are not only comprehensive but are also taught by accomplished world experts,” said Dr. Barbara De Salvo, Scientific Director at Leti. “But we have added some new features this year. One is a fourth Plenary session, on Wednesday morning, featuring Nobel winner Hiroshi Amano. Another is a revamped Tuesday evening panel. Not only will it focus on a topic of great interest to many people, it is designed to be more open and less formal.”

Other features of the IEDM 2017 include:

  • Focus Sessions on the following topics: 3D Integration and Packaging; Modeling Challenges for Neuromorphic Computing; Nanosensors for Disease Diagnostics; and Silicon Photonics: Current Status and Perspectives.
  • A vendor exhibition will be held, based on the success of last year’s event at the IEDM.
  • The IEEE Magnetics Society will again host a joint poster session on MRAM (magnetic RAM) in the exhibit area. New for this year, though, is that the Society will also hold its annual MRAM Global Innovation Forum on Thursday, Dec. 7 at the same hotel, enabling IEDM attendees to participate. (Refer to the IEEE Magnetics Society website.) The forum consists of invited talks by leading experts and a panel discussion.

Here are details of some of the events that will take place at this year’s IEDM:

90-Minute Tutorials – Saturday, Dec. 2
These tutorials on emerging technologies will be presented by leading technical experts in each area, with the goal of bridging the gap between textbook-level knowledge and cutting-edge current research.

  • The Evolution of Logic Transistors Toward Low Power and High Performance IoT Applications, Dr. Dae Won Ha, Samsung Electronics
  • Negative Capacitance Transistors, Prof. Sayeef Salahuddin, UC Berkeley
  • Fundamental, Thermal, and Energy Limits of PCM and ReRAM, Prof. Eric Pop, Stanford University
  • Hardware Opportunities in Cognitive Computing: Near- and Far-Term, Dr. Geoffrey Burr, Principal Research Staff Member, IBM Research-Almaden
  • 2.5D Interposers and High-Density Fanout Packaging as Enablers for Future Systems Integration, Dr. Venkatesh Sundaram, Associate Director, Georgia Tech 3D Systems Packaging Research Center
  • Silicon Photonics for Next-Generation Optical Interconnects, Dr. Joris Van Campenhout, Program Director Optical I/O, Imec

Short Courses – Sunday, Dec. 3
The day-long Short Courses provide the opportunity to learn about important developments in key areas, and they enable attendees to network with the industry’s leading technologists.

Boosting Performance, Ensuring Reliability, Managing Variability in Sub-5nm CMOS, organized by Sandy Liao of Intel, will feature the following sections:

  • Transistor Performance Elements for 5nm Node and Beyond, Gen Tsutsui, IBM
  • Multi-Vt Engineering and Gate Performance Control for Advanced FinFET Architecture, Steve CH Hung, Applied Materials
  • Sub-5nm Interconnect Trends and Opportunities, Zsolt Tokei, Imec
  • Transistor Reliability: Physics, Current Status, and Future Considerations, Stephen M. Ramey, Intel
  • Back End Reliability Scaling Challenges, Variation Management, and Performance Boosters for sub-5nm CMOS,Cathyrn Christiansen, Globalfoundries
  • Design-Technology Co-Optimization for Beyond 5nm Node, Andy Wei, TechInsights

Merged Memory-Logic Technologies and Their Applications, organized by Kevin Zhang of TSMC, will feature the following sections:

  • Embedded Non Volatile Memory for Automotive Applications, Alfonso Maurelli, STMicroelectronics
  • 3D ReRAM: Crosspoint Memory Technologies, Nirmal Ramaswamy, Micron
  • Ferroelectric Memory in CMOS Processes, Thomas Mikolajick, Namlab
  • Embedded Memories Technology Scaling & STT-MRAM for IoT & Automotive, Danny P. Shum, Globalfoundries
  • Embedded Memories for Energy-Efficient Computing, Jonathan Chang, TSMC
  • Abundant-Data Computing: The N3XT 1,000X, Subhasish Mitra, Stanford University

Plenary Presentations – Monday, Dec. 4

  • Driving the Future of High-Performance Computing, Lisa Su, President & CEO, AMD
  • Energy-Efficient Computing and Sensing: From Silicon to the Cloud, Adrian Ionescu, Professor, EPFL
  • System Scaling Innovation for Intelligent Ubiquitous Computing, Jack Sun, VP of R&D, TSMC

Plenary Presentation – Wednesday, Dec. 6

  • Development of a Sustainable Smart Society by Transformative Electronics, Hiroshi Amano, Professor, Nagoya University. Dr. Amano received the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics along with Isamu Akasaki and Shuji Nakamura for the invention of efficient blue LEDs, which sparked a revolution in innovative, energy-saving lighting. His talk will be preceded by the Focus Session on silicon photonics.

Evening Panel Session – Tuesday evening, Dec. 5

  • Where will the Next Intel be Headquartered?  Moderator: Prof. Philip Wong, Stanford

Entrepreneurs Lunch
Jointly sponsored by IEDM and IEEE EDS Women in Engineering, this year’s Entrepreneurs Lunch will feature Courtney Gras, Executive Director for Launch League, a local nonprofit focused on developing a strong startup ecosystem in Ohio. The moderator will be Prof. Leda Lunardi from North Carolina State University. Gras is an engineer by training and an entrepreneur by nature. After leaving her job as a NASA power systems engineer to work for on own startup company, she discovered a passion for building startup communities and helping technology-focused companies meet their goals. Named to the Forbes ’30 Under 30′ list in 2016, among many other recognitions and awards, Gras enjoys sharing her stories of founding a cleantech company with young entrepreneurs. She speaks on entrepreneurship, women in technology and clean energy at venues such as TEDx Budapest, the Pioneers Festival, and the IEEE WIE International Women’s Leadership Conference.

 

Quantum dots are nanometre-sized semiconductor particles with potential applications in solar cells and electronics. Scientists from the University of Groningen and their colleagues from ETH Zürich have now discovered how to increase the efficiency of charge conductivity in lead-sulphur quantum dots. Their results will be published in the journal Science Advances on 29 September.

Quantum dots are clusters of some 1,000 atoms which act as one large ‘super-atom’. The dots, which are synthesized as colloids, i.e. suspended in a liquid like a sort of paint, can be organized into thin films with simple solution-based processing techniques. These thin films can turn light into electricity. However, scientists have discovered that the electronic properties are a bottleneck. ‘Especially the conduction of holes, the positive counterpart to negatively charged electrons’, explains Daniel Balazs, PhD student in the Photophysics and Optoelectronics group of Prof. Maria A. Loi at the University of Groningen Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials.

Stoichiometry

Loi’s group works with lead-sulphide quantum dots. When light produces an electron-hole pair in these dots, the electron and hole do not move with the same efficiency through the assembly of dots. When the transport of either is limited, the holes and electrons can easily recombine, which reduces the efficiency of light-to-energy conversion. Balazs therefore set out to improve the poor hole conductance in the quantum dots and to find a toolkit to make this class of materials tunable and multifunctional.

‘The root of the problem is the lead-sulphur stoichiometry’, he explains. In quantum dots, nearly half the atoms are on the surface of the super-atom. In the lead-sulphur system, lead atoms preferentially fill the outer part, which means a ratio of lead to sulphur of 1:3 rather than 1:1. This excess of lead makes this quantum dot a better conductor of electrons than holes.

Thin films

In bulk material, transport is generally improved by ‘doping‘ the material: adding small amounts of impurities. However, attempts to add sulphur to the quantum dots have failed so far. But now Balazs and Loi have found a way to do this and thus increase hole mobility without affecting electron mobility.

Many groups have tried to combine the addition of sulphur with other production steps. However, this caused many problems, such as disrupting the assembly of the dots in the thin film. Instead, Balazs first produced ordered thin films and then added activated sulphur. Sulphur atoms were thus successfully added to the surface of the quantum dots, without affecting the other properties of the film. ‘A careful analysis of the chemical and physical processes during the assembly of quantum dot thin films and the addition of extra sulphur were what was needed to get this result. That’s why our group, with the cooperation of our chemistry colleagues from Zürich, was successful in the end.’

Devices

Loi’s team is now able to add different amounts of sulphur, which enables them to tune the electric properties of the super-atom assemblies. ‘We now know that we can improve the efficiency of quantum dot solar cells above the current record of 11%. The next step is to show that this method can also make other types of functional devices such as thermoelectric devices.’ It underlines the unique properties of quantum dots: they act as one atom with specific electric properties. ‘And now we can assemble them and can engineer their electrical properties as we wish. That is something which is impossible with bulk materials and it opens new perspectives for electronic and optoelectronic devices.’

Leti today announced that the European R&D project known as PiezoMAT has developed a pressure-based fingerprint sensor that enables resolution more than twice as high as currently required by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The project’s proof of concept demonstrates that a matrix of interconnected piezoelectric zinc-oxide (ZnO) nanowires grown on silicon can reconstruct the smallest features of human fingerprints at 1,000 dots per inch (DPI).

“The pressure-based fingerprint sensor derived from the integration of piezo-electric ZnO nanowires grown on silicon opens the path to ultra-high resolution fingerprint sensors, which will be able to reach resolution much higher than 1,000 DPI,” said Antoine Viana, Leti’s project manager. “This technology holds promise for significant improvement in both security and identification applications.”

The eight-member project team of European companies, universities and research institutes fabricated a demonstrator embedding a silicon chip with 250 pixels, and its associated electronics for signal collection and post-processing. The chip was designed to demonstrate the concept and the major technological achievements, not the maximum potential nanowire integration density. Long-term development will pursue full electronics integration for optimal sensor resolution.

 

The project also provided valuable experience and know-how in several key areas, such as optimization of seed-layer processing, localized growth of well-oriented ZnO nanowires on silicon substrates, mathematical modeling of complex charge generation, and synthesis of new polymers for encapsulation. The research and deliverables of the project have been presented in scientific journals and at conferences, including Eurosensors 2016 in Budapest.

The 44-month, €2.9 million PiezoMAT (PIEZOelectric nanowire MATrices) research project was funded by the European Commission in the Seventh Framework Program. Its partners include:

  • Leti (Grenoble, France): A leading European center in the field of microelectronics, microtechnology and nanotechnology R&D, Leti is one of the three institutes of the Technological Research Division at CEA, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. Leti’s activities span basic and applied research up to pilot industrial lines. www.leti-cea.com/cea-tech/leti/english 
  • Fraunhofer IAF (Freiburg, Germany): Fraunhofer IAF, one of the leading research facilities worldwide in the field of III-V semiconductors, develops electronic and optical devices based on modern micro- and nanostructures. Fraunhofer IAF’s technologies find applications in areas such as security, energy, communication, health, and mobility. www.iaf.fraunhofer.de/en
  • Centre for Energy Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Budapest, Hungary):  The Institute for Technical Physics and Materials Science, one of the institutes of the Research Centre, conducts interdisciplinary research on complex functional materials and nanometer-scale structures, exploration of physical, chemical, and biological principles, and their exploitation in integrated micro- and nanosystems www.mems.hu, www.energia.mta.hu/en
  • Universität Leipzig (Leipzig, Germany): Germany’s second-oldest university with continuous teaching, established in 1409, hosts about 30,000 students in liberal arts, medicine and natural sciences. One of its scientific profiles is “Complex Matter”, and contributions to PIEZOMAT are in the field of nanostructures and wide gap materials. www.zv.uni-leipzig.de/en/
  • Kaunas University of Technology (Kaunas, Lithuania): One of the largest technical universities in the Baltic States, focusing its R&D activities on novel materials, smart devices, advanced measurement techniques and micro/nano-technologies. The Institute of Mechatronics specializes on multi-physics simulation and dynamic characterization of macro/micro-scale transducers with well-established expertise in the field of piezoelectric devices. http://en.ktu.lt/ 
  • SPECIFIC POLYMERS (Castries, France): SME with twelve employees and an annual turnover of about 1M€, SPECIFIC POLYMERS acts as an R&D service provider and scale-up producer in the field of functional polymers with high specificity (>1000 polymers in catalogue; >500 customers; >50 countries). www.specificpolymers.fr/
  • Tyndall National Institute (Cork, Ireland): Tyndall National Institute is one of Europe’s leading research centres in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) research and development and the largest facility of its type in Ireland. The Institute employs over 460 researchers, engineers and support staff, with a full-time graduate cohort of 135 students. With a network of 200 industry partners and customers worldwide, Tyndall generates around €30M income each year, 85% from competitively won contracts nationally and internationally. Tyndall is a globally leading Institute in its four core research areas of Photonics, Microsystems, Micro/Nanoelectronics and Theory, Modeling and Design. www.tyndall.ie/
  • OT-Morpho (Paris, France): OT-Morpho is a world leader in digital security & identification technologies with the ambition to empower citizens and consumers alike to interact, pay, connect, commute, travel and even vote in ways that are now possible in a connected world. As our physical and digital, civil and commercial lifestyles converge, OT-Morpho stands precisely at that crossroads to leverage the best in security and identity technologies and offer customized solutions to a wide range of international clients from key industries, including Financial services, Telecom, Identity, Security and IoT. With close to €3bn in revenues and more than 14,000 employees, OT-Morpho is the result of the merger between OT (Oberthur Technologies) and Safran Identity & Security (Morpho) completed in 31 May 2017. Temporarily designated by the name “OT-Morpho”, the new company will unveil its new name in September 2017. For more information, visit www.morpho.com and www.oberthur.com

Rechargeable batteries are essential for powering our personal electronic devices. To meet the novel functions of next-generation electronics, including foldable displays, flexible power sources are needed. However, conventional batteries are rigid and unable to adapt to the demands of flexible devices. Low-cost, rechargeable batteries containing naturally abundant elements, such as zinc, are appealing, but flexible batteries based on zinc require a different preparation method from conventional batteries.

In their article in Advanced Energy Materials, Xu Chen, Bin Liu, Cheng Zhong, and co-workers have developed a high-performance, flexible air electrode for the Zn–air battery by devising a simple fabrication technique.

The technique involves electrodeposition with fast heat treatment to grow ultrathin mesoporous Co3O4 layers on the surface of carbon fibers on a carbon cloth. These ultrathin Co3O4 layers have a maximum contact area on the conductive support, facilitating rapid electron transport and preventing the aggregation of the layers.

Benefiting from the high utilization degree of active materials and rapid charge transport, the mass activity for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions of the ultrathin electrode is more than 10 times higher than that of the carbon cloth loaded with commercial Co3O4 nanoparticles. The as-assembled flexible Zn–air battery based on the ultrathin electrode exhibits excellent rechargeability (≈1.03 V discharge voltage and ≈1.95 V charge voltage at 2 mA cm–2), with a high charge density of 546 Wh kg–1. It also has a high cycling stability, where no obvious loss occurred after 10 hours of galvanostatic discharge–charge testing or after 300 mechanical bending cycles.

The authors also integrated a flexible display into the device. Despite repeated bending and twisting, the device maintains its mechanical integrity and discharge performance. When the device is cut by scissors, there is no perceptible change in the display brightness, signaling safe and reliable operation if the device is damaged.

To find out more about this flexible battery, please visit the Advanced Energy Materials homepage.

Transistors, as used in billions on every computer chip, are nowadays based on semiconductor-type materials, usually silicon. As the demands for computer chips in laptops, tablets and smartphones continue to rise, new possibilities are being sought out to fabricate them inexpensively, energy-saving and flexibly. The group led by Dr. Christian Klinke has now succeeded in producing transistors based on a completely different principle. They use metal nanoparticles which are so small that they no longer show their metallic character under current flow but exhibit an energy gap caused by the Coulomb repulsion of the electrons among one another. Via a controlling voltage, this gap can be shifted energetically and the current can thus be switched on and off as desired. In contrast to previous similar approaches, the nanoparticles are not deposited as individual structures, rendering the production very complex and the properties of the corresponding components unreliable, but, instead, they are deposited as thin films with a height of only one layer of nanoparticles. Employing this method, the electrical characteristics of the devices become adjustable and almost identical.

These Coulomb transistors have three main advantages that make them interesting for commercial applications: The synthesis of metal nanoparticles by colloidal chemistry is very well controllable and scalable. It provides very small nanocrystals that can be stored in solvents and are easy to process. The Langmuir-Blodgett deposition method provides high-quality monolayered films and can also be implemented on an industrial scale. Therefore, this approach enables the use of standard lithography methods for the design of the components and the integration into electrical circuits, which renders the devices inexpensive, flexible, and industry-compatible. The resulting transistors show a switching behavior of more than 90% and function up to room temperature. As a result, inexpensive transistors and computer chips with lower power consumption are possible in the future. The research results have now been published in the scientific journal “Science Advances“.

“Scientifically interesting is that the metal particles inherit semiconductor-like properties due to their small size. Of course, there is still a lot of research to be done, but our work shows that there are alternatives to traditional transistor concepts that can be used in the future in various fields of application”, says Christian Klinke. “The devices developed in our group can not only be used as transistors, but they are also very interesting as chemical sensors because the interstices between the nanoparticles, which act as so-called tunnel barriers, react highly sensitive to chemical deposits.”

By Michaël Tchagaspanian, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Leti

Digital disruption begets innovation. Challenges equal opportunities. Those were clear messages during Leti Innovation Days recently in Grenoble, France. Over two days at the annual event, which this year coincided with Leti’s 50th anniversary, speakers and exhibitions highlighted challenges of the digital revolution and presented specific current-and-anticipated solutions for industry, healthcare and energy and the environment.

Coinciding with the launch of the administration of French President Emmanuel Macron, who has already talked of France becoming “a start-up nation”, Leti also noted the importance of creating and supporting startups that will help consumers, companies and countries address the challenges and opportunities of the digital revolution.

Citing challenges in the energy sector, Thierry Lepercq, executive vice president of research, technology and innovation at the international French energy company ENGIE, warned of potential energy blackouts and financial problems for traditional energy providers due to the growing penetration of alternative energy sources, the switch from fossil fuels – and energy sharing by households.

These developments, which ENGIE calls “Full 3D” – decarbonization, decentralization and digitalization – have destabilized traditional power systems and providers.

For example, a German residential battery-storage supplier allows residents to store energy at home and swap it on the grid, cutting out traditional electricity providers. Lepercq also noted that the rapid growth in the use of electric vehicles can load the grid with demand that was not anticipated even a few years ago. But the digital revolution also has prompted entrepreneurial responses. EV-Box, the Dutch company that has deployed more than 40,000 vehicle-charging stations in 20 countries, is gathering usage data, which will help officials understand the vehicles’ demands on the grid.

ENGIE acquired EV-Box this year as a strategic step towards operating in a completely new global energy paradigm.

Driving toward a new economy

Last month, Intel released a study that predicted autonomous vehicles will create a “Passenger Economy” – with mobility-as-a-service – that could grow to $800 billion in 2035 and to $7 trillion by 2050.

With autonomous vehicles, the car will no longer be a “stand-alone vehicle”, but “something that reacts with the environment”, said Mike Mayberry, corporate vice president and managing director of Intel Labs. Intel has opened advanced vehicle labs in the U.S. and Germany to explore the various requirements related to self-driving vehicles and the future of transportation. That includes sensing, in-vehicle computing, artificial intelligence, connectivity, and supporting cloud technologies and services.

When a panel discussion on driverless cars was asked when these vehicles will be in general use, Jean-François Tarabbia, CTO of Valeo, the automotive supplier to automakers worldwide, said “the better question is ‘why’”. And that depends in part on the industry’s ability to demonstrate vehicle safety. He said that traffic jams could be reduced by 30 percent with autonomous cars. Still, the cars will require a driver inside who will do something other than driving until he or she is needed to operate the vehicle.

Pierrick Cornet, brand incubator at Renault Nissan, said autonomous cars also will have to accommodate owners who occasionally want to drive their vehicles. For carmakers like Renault Nissan, the challenges are managing the cost and weight of the vehicles, which are loaded with batteries, as well as computing and sensing gear – and making them able to charge quickly.

Fabio Marchiò, automotive digital general manager at STMicroelectronics, noted that cars are the least-used appliance/machine in the household. He agreed with Tarabbia that safety and consumer resistance are primary roadblocks for the vehicles, but added that government regulations could slow down their widespread use.

Moore’s Law obtains

Outlining some of Intel’s R&D programs, Mayberry brushed aside frequent predictions that Moore’s Law has run its course. He said Intel expects Moore’s Law to be in effect at least through the next decade, because of the industry’s continued evolution to smaller technology nodes with new IC technologies.

In addition to focusing on enabling Moore’s Law going forward, Intel’s research on components and hardware includes developing novel integration techniques. But Intel Labs also is focused on enabling future product capabilities and “imagining what’s next”.

As part of that effort, Intel Labs has partnered with Princeton University to decode digital brain data, which is scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The goal is to reveal how neural activity gives rise to learning, memory and other cognitive functions such as human attention, control and decision-making.

Leti and Intel agreed last year to collaborate on strategic research programs, including the Internet of Things, high-speed wireless communication, security technologies and 3D displays.

Quantum computing

Also peering into the more-distant future, Leti CEO Marie Semeria noted development of Leti’s Si-CMOS quantum-technology platform.

“The quantum topic has recently become central, thanks to the huge advances made in solid-state implementation, both in superconducting systems and in silicon technologies,” she said. “Interest in silicon-based technologies is huge because of their reliability and their capability to reproduce industrial standards along with the low-noise characteristics and low variability of CMOS devices.”

Noting that the University of New South Wales recently demonstrated a promising two-qubit logic gate based on the silicon-28 isotope, Semeria said Leti had demonstrated the compatibility of such circuits with state-of-the-art CMOS processes.

“From an architectural point of view, it is clear that the future quantum computer will be hybrid. It will combine a quantum engine with a classical digital computer,” she explained. “The program that will run on such a machine will need to combine at least two computing models: a classical part, to prepare data and process results, and a quantum one. A tight connection between the two programming models will be necessary.”

With its history of pioneering in technology and its culture of spinning out new companies to further develop and commercialize innovative technologies, Leti is poised to help France achieve Macron’s goal: “I want France to be a ‘start-up nation’, meaning both a nation that works with and for the start-ups, but also a nation that thinks and moves like a start-up.”

Leti has launched 64 startups, including 13 in the past four years.

Digital innovations in healthcare

Jai Hakhu, president & CEO of HORIBA International Corporation (U.S.), explained how the digital revolution is creating in vitro diagnostics business potential by enabling delivery of preventive healthcare services in even remote regions of the world. In one of HORIBA and Leti’s joint projects, they are developing a hematology, microfluidics-based, lensfree, point-of-care and home-testing system that can be used in underdeveloped countries.

The collaboration is helping realize HORIBA’s vision of providing preventive self-testing anywhere in the world.

Leti’s start-up Avalun has developed a portable medical device for multiple-measurement capabilities using point-of-care testing. Other recent healthcare-related startups include Diabeloop, which is in the final stages of testing an artificial pancreas, and Aryballe Technologies, which is developing olfactory and gustatory sensors.

Routes to innovation

Those new companies were among the presenters at Leti’s immersive exhibition, “Routes to Innovation”, which was the focus of day two of the event. Entrepreneurs and Leti scientists offered more than 60 demonstrations of patented technologies, to show with concrete examples how Leti’s technological know-how and industrial transfer expertise can help French and international companies innovate and become more competitive.

The three “Digital Revolution” topics included “Micro-Nano Pathfinding”, showing how the diversity of Leti’s digital technologies are available to all economic sectors; “Cyber Physical Systems”, and “Business-Model Disruption”.

The “Environmental Transition” demos covered “Sustainable Activities”, “Monitoring Our World’ and “More with Less”. The “New Frontiers for Healthcare” demos covered “Prevention, Independence, Well Being”, “New Therapies” and “Analysis & Diagnosis”. 

Collaborating for technological sovereignty

During the event, Semeria and Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics Chairman Hubert Lakner announced a wide-ranging collaboration to develop innovative, next-generation microelectronics technologies to spur innovation in their countries and strengthen European strategic and economic sovereignty.

The two institutes will initially focus on extending CMOS and More-than-Moore technologies to enable next-generation components for applications in the Internet of Things, augmented reality, automotive, health, aeronautics and other sectors, as well as systems to support French and German industries.

‘Smart everything everywhere’

Over the two days, a record number of guests, including CEOs, CTOs, journalists and special guests and speakers heard and saw examples of Leti’s advanced technology platforms, its commitment to research excellence and its vision for applying innovative technologies to challenges of the digital era.

Max Lemke, head of the Components and Systems Unit at the European Commission, noted that Leti’s contributions extend beyond microelectronics to cyber-physical systems, 5G, the Internet of Things, photonics and post-CMOS technologies. By supporting the digital transformation of industry, Leti plays a leading role in “smart everything everywhere”, Lemke said.

“Leti is excellently positioned to continue doing forward-looking research” on components and systems to build the foundation for Europe’s future competitiveness, and to play an instrumental role in supporting French and European industry in their digital transformation, he said.