Research

4mm diameter elastomer fibres are a promising substrate for electronics in clothing, according to Nottingham Trent University, which is investigating washable stretchable medical wearables. To make the electronic fibre, a long thin flexible PCB is helically wound along, and bonded to, the elastomer core, with its components facing inwards. “The basic idea has been around for centuries – it’s the ...

402Tbit/s has been sent down 50km of commercial-grade optical fibre by an international team led by the Japanese National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). 1,505 WDM (wavelength division multiplexed) channels were used simultaneously, spread across six optical bands spanning 37.6THz (275nm) of spectrum. Signals were boosted with six doped-fiber amplifiers, with lumped and distributed Raman-amplification, “to cover all ...

A European pilot line for digital, analogue and RF ICs on 10nm and 7nm FD-SOI was announced today at French research lab CEA-Leti in Grenoble. Called Fames Pilot Line, it will create manufacturing processes for OxRAM, FeRAM, MRAM and FeFETs embedded non-volatile memories; RF switches, filters and capacitors; integrated inductors for dc-dc converters; and both heterogeneous and sequential 3D integration. ...

A mixer-first sliding-IF architecture has been chosen by a PhD student to create a 300GHz radio receiver front-end using 300GHz Ft (450GHz Fmax) transistors from a 130nm SiGe BiCMOS process. According to the thesis of Sumit Singh, studying at University of Oulu in Finland, down-conversion of the 300GHz carrier is initially by a local oscillator at two-thirds of the carrier, ...

German research incubator Fraunhofer IPMS is working on a portable cuff that can be used to detect deep vein thrombosis (DVT) using ultrasound scanning from CMUTs – capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers. “They are considered to be the next generation of medical ultrasound sensors,” according to Fraunhofer. “The low-cost mass production of CMUTs makes them widely available. Their advantages, such as ...

TDK claims to have developed a solid-state battery that can hold 1,000Wh/litre, as a replacement for coin cells. “Utilising proprietary material technology, TDK has managed to develop a material for the new solid-state battery with a significantly higher energy density than TDK’s conventional mass-produced CeraCharge solid-state batteries, due to the use of oxide-based solid electrolyte and lithium alloy anodes,” according ...

Imec unveiled a CMOS 56Gbit/s zero-IF D-band beam-forming transmitter at the IEEE RFIC Symposium in Washington. “It is a key component of a 4-way beamforming transceiver chip currently being developed by imec’s researchers,” according to the Belgian research lab. “With this technology, they aim to support the deployment of short-range wireless services at frequencies above 100GHz.” It sees Gbit/s communication ...

Formamidinium lead iodide perovskite solar cells can be made to run for 1,000 hours at 85°C while loosing under 3% efficiency, according to Rice University. “Right now, we think that this is state-of-the-art in terms of stability,” said Rice engineer Aditya Mohite (right). The key was to grow its FAPbI3 from a solution containing a custom two-dimensional perovskite, designed to ...

Canada has joined the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) as a Member and becomes the tenth country to join the intergovernmental organisation. It also announced a $269m investment over eight years in the radio astronomy project. The National Research Council of Canada’s (NRC) Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre will oversee the investment and will be working with Canadian industrial ...

Crystal IS has reached 99% usable area in the 100mm diameter single-crystal aluminum nitride substrates that it is developing for UVC LED production, particularly in the 260 – 270nm germicidal range. The ultra-wide bandgap and high thermal conductivity of AlN is also applicable to RF and power devices. Its first 100mm AlN wafer was made in August last year, and ...