Industry News

February 2020
Guideline for Switching Reliability Evaluations for GaN
JEDEC Solid State Technology Association announces the publication of JEP180: Guideline for Switching Reliability Evaluation Procedures for Gallium Nitride Power Conversion Devices.  Developed by JEDEC’s JC-70 Committee for Wide Bandgap Power Electronic Conversion Semiconductors, JEP180 is available for fr
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Date:
02/28/2020
Data Centers Use Less Energy Than You Think

Filled with computing and networking equipment, data centers are central locations that collect, store and process data.

If the world is using more and more data, then it must be using more and more energy, right? Not so, says a comprehensive new analysis. Researchers at Northwestern University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Koomey Analytics have developed the most detailed model to date of global data center energy us
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Date:
02/28/2020
New Ecological Process for Producing Cheaper Biofuel

Professor Rajeshwar Dayal Tyagi, a researcher at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), has developed with his team a new approach to biodiesel production that uses microbes, sewage sludge, and a biofuel byproduct.

Professors Rajeshwar Dayal Tyagi and Patrick Drogui, researchers at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), have developed a new approach to biodiesel production that uses microbes, sewage sludge, and a biofuel byproduct. Biodiesel has multiple environmental benefits, but the use of vegeta
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Date:
02/28/2020
Tool Fools Hackers to Share Keys for Better Cybersecurity

Dr. Latifur Khan (left), professor of computer science, and Gbadebo Ayoade MS'14, PhD'19, shown at Ayoade's doctoral hooding ceremony in December, are co-authors of a study that promotes the benefits of crook-sourcing.

Instead of blocking hackers, a new cybersecurity defense approach developed by University of Texas at Dallas computer scientists actually welcomes them. The method, called DEEP-Dig (DEcEPtion DIGging), ushers intruders into a decoy site so the computer can learn from hackers' tactics. The information is then us
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Date:
02/27/2020
Urban use of Ultralight Flexible CIGS Thin Film Solar Cell

Photo of lightweight flexible CIGS thin film solar cell and its JV characteristics

Korea Institute of Energy Research (President Kim, Jong-nam) found an efficiency improvement mechanism of polymer-substrate flexible CIGS thin-film solar cells* and published the results in 'Nano Energy' (IF: 15.548). *CIGS thin film solar cell: A kind of next-generation thin-film solar cell that has Cu(In,Ga)Se
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Date:
02/27/2020
Can New Kind of Power Plant Improve Air Quality, Resilience?

Hanadi Rifai, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of environmental engineering at the University of Houston, is leading a $4 million project to study low-cost, low-emission electric power.

Researchers from the University of Houston, backed by $4 million in funding from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, have joined a pilot project testing the use of supercritical CO2, or pressurized carbon dioxide, to produce low-cost, low-emission electric power. The project, funded by the U.S. D
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Date:
02/27/2020
Stretchable, Wearable Coils Make MRI, Medical Tests Easier

A Purdue University team developed RF coils that are formable and stretchable for medical imaging. (Image provided)

Anyone who has had a mammogram or an MRI knows how uncomfortable and awkward the tests can be. Now, Purdue University researchers have taken technology used in the defense and aerospace industries to create a novel way of doing some medical imaging. One reason the tests are uncomfortable is that they often use
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Date:
02/26/2020
Adding Metal to Organic Nanomaterials for Better Batteries
The existing method for adding metals to organic materials is dangerous and laborious. Scientists from Korea have now developed a new method that is simple, safe, and cost-effective. This method, in addition to enabling a host of possibilities, such as ferrofluids, will allow the production of sodium-ion batteries, an
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Date:
02/26/2020
Black Phosphorous FET as Alternative Ultra-Low Power Switch?

A: Optical image and band diagram of the heterojunction formed by the thickness variation of black phosphorus 2D material. B: Schematic of the tunnel field-effect transistor and the thickness-dependent bandgap. C: Characteristic transfer curve showing steep subthreshold swing and high on-current.

Researchers have reported a black phosphorus transistor that can be used as an alternative ultra-low power switch. A research team led by Professor Sungjae Cho in the KAIST Department of Physics developed a thickness-controlled black phosphorous tunnel field-effect transistor (TFET) that shows 10-times lower sw
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Date:
02/21/2020
High-Capacity EV Battery Materials that Double Driving Range

KIST researchers developed cathode material of carbon-silicon complex by simply mixing and heating silicon mixed with oil with green ingredients corn and sweet potato starch. If batteries made of this material are installed in electric vehicles, the driving range will more than double.

Dr. Hun-Gi Jung and his research team at the Center for Energy Storage Research of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Lee Byung Gwon) have announced the development of silicon anode materials that can increase battery capacity four-fold in comparison to graphite anode materials and en
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Date:
02/21/2020
CEA, Allies Launch Affordable Energy for NJ Coalition
Consumer Energy Alliance joined civic, labor, energy and business groups to launch Affordable Energy for New Jersey, a group working to ensure New Jersey residents continue to have safe, reliable and affordable energy choices in the wake of the recent release of the state’s Energy Master Plan (EMP). “CEA is h
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Date:
02/20/2020
Dialog Semiconductor to Acquire Adesto Technologies
Dialog Semiconductor and Adesto Technologies Corporation (“Adesto”) announced they have signed a definitive agreement for Dialog to acquire all outstanding shares of Adesto. Adesto accelerates Dialog’s expansion into the growing IIoT market that enables smart buildings and industrial automati
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Date:
02/20/2020
Mixed-Signal Hardware Security for Electromagnetic Attacks

A Purdue University team developed technology to use mixed-signal circuits to embed critical information that is suppressed at a lower level.

Security of embedded devices is essential in today’s internet-connected world. Security is typically guaranteed mathematically using a small secret key to encrypt the private messages. When these computationally secure encryption algorithms are implemented on a physical hardware, they leak critical side-chan
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Date:
02/19/2020
Researchers Fool Autonomous Vehicles with Phantom Images

In the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Research Telsa considers the phantom image (left) as a real person and (right) Mobileye 630 PRO autonomous vehicle system considers the image projected on a tree as a real road sign.

Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's (BGU) Cyber Security Research Center have found that they can cause the autopilot on an autonomous vehicle to erroneously apply its brakes in response to "phantom" images projected on a road or billboard. In a new research paper, "Phantom of th
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Date:
02/19/2020
Highly Sensitive Sensors for Enhancing Human Touch

The visually aided tactile enhancement system, VATES, applied for precise motion control. The ultrathin highly sensitive crack-based sensor, signal acquisition circuit and real-time display system are used to realize the induction of tiny deformations. Ultrathin sensors exceed human skin sensitivity and do not disturb the human skin's tactile sensation. A real-time display can be used as a supplement to assist a person's tactile sensation.

People rely on a highly tuned sense of touch to manipulate objects, but injuries to the skin and the simple act of wearing gloves can impair this ability. Surgeons, for example, find that gloves decrease their ability to manipulate soft tissues. Astronauts are also hampered by heavy spacesuits and find it difficult to
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Date:
02/19/2020
Army Researchers Develop Efficient Distributed Deep Learning

A networked set of agents (denoted as colored nodes) train their individual deep neural nets using locally available data while interacting with neighbor nodes through available communication links (represented using grey edges).

A new algorithm is enabling deep learning that is more collaborative and communication-efficient than traditional methods. Army researchers developed algorithms that facilitate distributed, decentralized and collaborative learning capabilities among devices, avoiding the need to pool all data at a central s
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Date:
02/18/2020
Creating Custom Light Using 2D Materials

Artistic view of a junction of different 2D light-emitting materials.

Finding new semi-conductor materials that emit light is essential for developing a wide range of electronic devices. But making artificial structures that emit light tailored to our specific needs is an even more attractive proposition. However, light emission in a semi-conductor only occurs when certain conditions ar
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Date:
02/18/2020
Novel Technology to Measure Energy Conversion Efficiency
Conversion of energy is a constant process but measuring the efficiency of this conversion is not an easy task. Quantifying the heat emission of the object that absorbs energy has been proven to be a good indicator. Scientists have now devised a technique that can perform this measurement easily and accurately, an
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Date:
02/17/2020
Catalyst Deposition on Fragile Chips

Yen-Ting Chen at the transmission electron microscope

Researchers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and the University of Duisburg-Essen have developed a new method of depositing catalyst particles to tiny electrodes. It is inexpensive, simple and quick to perform. In order to characterize catalysts and test their potential for various applications, researchers ha
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Date:
02/14/2020
Does Graphene Cause or Prevent the Corrosion of Copper?

Scientists in Korea are first to observe an unprecedented way in which graphene forms a hybrid layer that prevents copper corrosion

Copper has been essential to human technology since its early days--it was even used to make tools and weapons in ancient times. It is widely used even today, especially in electronic devices that require wiring. But, a challenge with using copper is that its surface oxidizes over time, even under ambient conditions, ul
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Date:
02/14/2020
Cobalt-Based Catalysts to Enhance Heavy oil Extraction

Subfractional composition of heavy oil asphaltenes

Despite the large number of existing reagents, research is ongoing in the world to obtain universal catalysts that are distinguished by their efficiency, low cost and neutral impact on the environment. After conducting laboratory studies, KFU scientists were able to create a new type of reagent based on nickel an
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Date:
02/14/2020
Answering Investor Calls, Dominion Sets Net-Zero Target
Dominion Energy announced a goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, joining the ranks of at least 17 other U.S. utilities setting net-zero targets. Significantly, Dominion’s goal applies to both its electric and natural gas businesses in the 18 states where it operates.  As You Sow has worked
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Date:
02/12/2020
Are Robots Designed to Include the LGBTQ+ Community?

Will robots and AI respond appropriately to an elderly gay couple? Researchers say it's important to make design decisions now to make certain that technology is inclusive.

In a new short paper in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence, Roger A. Søraa from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and co-authors Eduard Fosch-Villaronga from Leiden University in the Netherlands, and Adam Poulsen from Charles Sturt University in Australia discuss what a queering of robots m
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Date:
02/12/2020
Autonomous Vehicle Tech may Improve US Army Convoy Safety
U.S. Army convoys could be made safer for soldiers by implementing autonomous vehicle technology to reduce the number of service members needed to operate the vehicles, according to a new study from the RAND Corporation. "The Army is interested in autonomous technology because if they can reduce the numbe
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Date:
02/12/2020
Nanoscale Thermal Switches Needed for Next-Gen Computing
Researchers working on an Army project developed nanoscale thermal switches that are key to thermal management of nanoscale devices, refrigeration, data storage, thermal computing and heat management of buildings. The journal Nature Nanotechnology published an Army-funded study from University of Michigan resear
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Date:
02/12/2020
First Electrically-Driven 'Topological' Laser Developed

From left - NTU Singapore scientists Assoc Prof Baile Zhang, Prof Qijie Wang, Assoc Prof Yidong Chong, and Dr Yongquan Zeng, who worked with their collaborators at the University of Leeds, UK, to develop the first electrically-driven topological laser.

Scientists and engineers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and the University of Leeds in the UK have created the first electrically-driven 'topological' laser, which has the ability to route light particles around corners - and to cope with defects in the manufacture of the device. Electrically-driven semiconduct
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Date:
02/12/2020
Graphene Forms Under Microscope's Eye

Scientists recorded the formation of laser-induced graphene made with a small laser mounted to a scanning electron microscope.

You don't need a big laser to make laser-induced graphene (LIG). Scientists at Rice University, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT Knoxville) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are using a very small visible beam to burn the foamy form of carbon into microscopic patterns. The labs of Rice chemi
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Date:
02/12/2020
Kirigami can Help us Study the Muscular Activity of Athletes
The upcoming Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020 represent a big opportunity for governments to promote a healthy lifestyle and sports, and the turn of the decade is a great opportunity to showcase how recent technological developments can be used to help us understand human motion during sports. In this re
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Date:
02/10/2020
Sager Electronics Sponsors FIRST Robotics Team
Sager Electronics announced its support for the FIRST (For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology) Robotics team at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School in Southeastern Massachusetts. The FIRST Robotics competition combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and techn
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Date:
02/10/2020
DNA-Like Material Could Bring Even Smaller Transistors

These silver, wiggling lines are strings of atoms in tellurium behaving like DNA. Researchers have not seen this behavior in any other material.

Computer chips use billions of tiny switches, called transistors, to process information. The more transistors on a chip, the faster the computer. A material shaped like a one-dimensional DNA helix might further push the limits on a transistor's size. The material comes from a rare earth element called tellurium.
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Date:
02/10/2020
Nano Dimension Lists Closing of $3.5 Million Public Offering
Nano Dimension Ltd., announced the closing of its previously announced underwritten public offering of 2,333,000 American Depositary Shares (“ADS”), at a price per ADS to the public of $1.50. The gross proceeds to the Company from this offering were $3,499,500, before deducting underwriting discounts, commissions an
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Date:
02/09/2020
Asite Becomes Key Player in MTA's $54.8 billion Investment
Asite has been appointed as the Electronic Project Management Solution for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York City. Following a competitive tender process, Asite’s Common Data Environment platform was chosen to work on existing and upcoming MTA projects, including the MTA Capital Prog
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Date:
02/06/2020
New York Power Authority Joins Climate Smart Communities
The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has joined the Climate Smart Communities program, an interagency effort to encourage and assist local governments in taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the effects of climate change. A total of 291 local governments around New York State have jo
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Date:
02/05/2020
Engineering a Better World Using Mirrors, Sun, and Steam
Partha Dutta, a professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, envisions a not-so-distant future where even the most remote parts of the world would have access to clean and renewable energy. His vision wouldn’t require a large power grid or expensive technology. In
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Date:
02/05/2020
How Nanomaterials Could Lower Retail Waste, up Stock Take

An image of the newly developed environmentally-friendly radio-frequency identification tag.

As part of the new £8 million ESRC investment in Digital Futures at Work Research Centre, University of Sussex academics and an innovative SME have teamed up with the world's largest retail company to understand how quantum digital technology could revolutionise employment in the retail sector and significantly red
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Date:
02/03/2020
WVU Engineer Aims to Enhance Space Weather Forecasting

An artist's illustration shows activity from the sun contributing to space weather conditions that can ultimately affect Earth and its infrastructure.

Usually, the Earth's magnetic field shields us from the misadventures of our nearest star, the mighty sun. But it failed on Sept. 2, 1859. Known as the Carrington Event, the most powerful solar storm on record burst through the magnetic field and pummeled telegraph wires throughout the United States and
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Date:
02/03/2020
Ultra-High Energy Events key to Study of Ghost Particles
Physicists at Washington University in St. Louis have proposed a way to use data from ultra-high energy neutrinos to study interactions beyond the standard model of particle physics. The 'Zee burst' model leverages new data from large neutrino telescopes such as the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica and
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Date:
02/02/2020
How Supercomputers Link Quantum Entanglement to Cold Coffee
Theoretical physicists from Trinity College Dublin have found a deep link between one of the most striking features of quantum mechanics - quantum entanglement - and thermalisation, which is the process in which something comes into thermal equilibrium with its surroundings. Their results are published today [Fr
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Date:
02/02/2020
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