Manufacturing

Kyocera has be rewarded for the ultra-precise plasma processing technology it created to produce miniaturised crystal resonators – developed with Professor Kazuya Yamamura of Osaka University. The process, known as chemical vaporisation machining (CVM), involves a chemical reaction between neutral radicals in the plasma and the surface of the workpiece. It produces crystal wafers with nanometre-level thickness uniformity without damaging ...

Cortec has created a packaging shrink film that can be composted. It is called EcoShrink Compostable Film. “EcoShrink takes both the beginning and the end of the shrink wrap product life cycle into account,” according to Cortec. “It is sourced from certified commercially compostable resins and contains 45% biopolymers. After use, it can be disposed of in a commercial composting ...

Murata will begin mass-producing solid-state batteries in the autumn. “We will start production in small quantities in the first half of the year ending March 2022 and expand production in the second half,” says board member Masanori Minamide. Production will be st the company’s Yasu Division, in Shiga Prefecture. Murata bought Sony’s  Sony li-ion Business in 2017 and has combined ...

Hampshire start-up Small Robot Company has revealed Tom, its first commercial robot, designed to pinpoint weeds using camera. Tom with SRC president and co-founder Sam Watson Jones Manufactured in Northumberland by Tharsus, initial customers include Lockerley Estate, Waitrose’ Leckford Estate and the National Trust. “SRC’s first service using Tom will be per-plant weeding,” according to the company. “This is now in field ...

MikroElektronika of Serbia has launched its 1,000th Click board: EtherCAT Click which can add EtherCAT to processors with an SPI interface. Click boards are used to add interfaces to microcontroller development boards – the company created its accompanying 16pin mikroBus standard ten years ago. Mikroe now releases a new Click board nearly every day at 10am, according to the company: ...

Creality has added an entry-level 2K monochrome resin machine to its 3D printer range. Resin printers create solid objects from a vat of liquid photo-polymer using ultra-violet patterning. In the sub-£1,000 market, these printers have rapidly converged to designs where the active layer of the print is at the transparent bottom of a vat, illuminated from below by UV patterned by ...

Over 340 new products have been added to the PRO factory automation sensors range by RS Components. The range now includes ultrasonic proximity sensors and fibre optical sensors which join the photoelectric proximity sensors (through-beam, retro-reflective and diffuse), inductive proximity sensors and capacitive proximity sensors. The sensors are used to detect a range of materials including metals, plastics, paper, liquids, ...

Earlier today, Foxconn confirmed it is talking to Macronix about buying a six inch fab in Hsinchu. “Our team has expressed interest in their 6-inch fab and will proceed with the talks,” says Foxconn Chairman Young Liu (pictured). Liu says that Foxconn needs the fab as a source of ICs for its EV production plans. Foxconn has produced a standard ...

TT Electronics is consolidating its North American sensors and specialist components operations and moving into a facility in Plano, Texas. The new location will support administrative, R&D, engineering, and manufacturing functions advancing the company’s optoelectronic sensors and resistors business. The phased opening of this facility will commence at the end of April, with the current Carrollton, Texas optoelectronics office and ...

It would be “economically unrealistic” for the US and Europe to build local foundry capacity for local demand, says TSMC chairman Mark Liu (pictured). The result of doing so would be to establish “non-profitable capacity,” adds Liu. Liu says TSMC has enough capacity to supply the rising demand for AI and 5G chips which is one of the factors driving ...