Electronics

Introduction to “Thermoelectrics” for ACT @ 20

By Jonathon Foreman / November 21, 2023

To celebrate the milestone of the 20th volume of the International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology, the editorial team assembled a selection of journal papers representing the excellent work from the advanced ceramics community. The focus this month is thermoelectrics.

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Electronics in space—high-temperature electrical tests reveal potential of various packaging materials for silicon carbide sensors

By Lisa McDonald / November 21, 2023

Silicon carbide electronics are expected to play a role in future space missions to hot celestial bodies, such as Venus and the sun. A new study by researchers at NASA Glenn Research Center investigated the electrical properties of several ceramic and glass packaging materials to determine which would best protect silicon carbide electronics at temperatures of more than 800°C.

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Advancing the quantum world’s new best friend—researchers stabilize charge states in hexagonal boron nitride

By Lisa McDonald / October 13, 2023

Hexagonal boron nitride has recently emerged as a potential material for hosting qubits, the basic unit of quantum information, on a smaller scale than diamonds, the traditional go-to material for quantum systems. Now, researchers at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia described a way to stabilize charge states in hexagonal boron nitride.

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Propelling GaN electronics adoption, plus more inside September 2023 ACerS Bulletin

By Lisa McDonald / September 7, 2023

The September 2023 issue of the ACerS Bulletin—featuring an overview of the current gallium nitride-based device market—is now available online. Plus—ACerS Awards of 2023 and C&GM.

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A charged finding—effect of threading dislocation lines on conductivity in gallium nitride versus indium nitride

By Lisa McDonald / May 26, 2023

Group-III-nitride semiconductors have considerable potential for electronic and optoelectronic applications, but unintended defects tend to form in their structure during fabrication, which may affect the electrical properties. Two researchers at the University of British Columbia detailed the striking contrast between the effects of threading dislocation lines in gallium nitride versus indium nitride.

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New ultrafast optical nanoscopy method measures carrier dynamics in wider bandgap semiconductors

By Lisa McDonald / February 21, 2023

To date, efforts to study carrier dynamics in semiconductor materials have primarily focused on narrow bandgap semiconductors. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, propose a method that combines ultrafast nanoscale measurements and theoretical modeling to probe carrier behavior in semiconductors with wider bandgaps.

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Together again for Electronic Materials and Applications 2023 in Orlando

By Eileen De Guire / February 1, 2023

For the first time since 2020, the Electronic Materials and Applications Conference met in person in Orlando, Fla., Jan. 17–20, 2023. Close to 270 attendees from 20 countries attended the three-day conference.

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Toward lead-free piezoelectrics: KNN-based ceramic demonstrates enhanced electrical properties thanks to two-step sintering process

By Lisa McDonald / January 6, 2023

Awareness of lead’s toxicity drives research on alternative lead-free piezoelectric materials. But traditional high-temperature sintering processes can inadvertently deteriorate a lead-free ceramic’s piezoelectric response. A two-step sintering process can minimize this deterioration, and researchers in China identified the optimum temperature and dwell time for the first step.

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Good things come in even smaller packages: ZrO2 thin films on silicon show ferroelectricity down to 5 angstroms

By Lisa McDonald / December 9, 2022

Ferroelectric materials are expected to revolutionize the next generation of ultralow-power microelectronics. In a recent study, researchers led by the University of California, Berkeley achieved atomic-scale ferroelectricity in fluorite-structured zirconium dioxide thin films on silicon.

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Thermoformed boron-based ceramics may offer new frontier in customized electronic components

By Lisa McDonald / November 1, 2022

The typically brittle nature of ceramics can hamper its formation into complex parts. Northeastern University researchers demonstrated that a highly oriented boron-based ceramic matrix composite can be shaped via thermoforming, which could hold implications for the electronics field.

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