Electronics

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 Guest Contributor / 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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Model reveals how to attain dynamic control of ferroionic states in ferroelectric nanoparticles

By Lisa McDonald / August 19, 2022

There still is much to learn about how surface-charge dynamics influence the behavior of ferroelectric materials. In a recent open-access paper, researchers from the United States and Ukraine used finite element modeling to map these dynamics for ferroelectric nanoparticle dispersions.

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Streamlining communication—US federal committees and agencies lay plans for spectrum management reform

By Lisa McDonald / May 27, 2022

In recent years, conflicts over spectrum usage by private, public, and federal entities have reached a fever pitch. The Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, as well as House and Senate committees, are considering initiatives and legislation to reform and improve spectrum management.

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Video: India aims to become major player in global semiconductor market

By Lisa McDonald / May 4, 2022

While India does well in research and development of semiconductor chips, the country has few semiconductor fabrication plants and none are for commercial use. In recent months, the Indian government laid the groundwork to bring commercial chip manufacturing to India.

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Accelerating development of paper-like electronic screens—researchers explore friction behaviors of stylus tips on textured glass surfaces

By Lisa McDonald / April 26, 2022

An electronic screen that mimics a paper-like surface is a desirable feature for many consumers. Texturing the screen is one way manufacturers attempt to achieve this experience, and researchers in Japan compared the friction behaviors of three commercial stylus tips on flat and textured glass surfaces.

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Materials for next-generation electronics, plus more inside April 2022 ACerS Bulletin

By Lisa McDonald / March 17, 2022

The April 2022 issue of the ACerS Bulletin—featuring ferroelectric materials for negative capacitance electronics—is now available online. Plus—new C&GM.

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Beyond the fundamental limits of electronics: Ferroelectric gate oxides for negative capacitance transistors

By Lisa McDonald / March 1, 2022

Metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors are integral to modern electronics. As miniaturization reaches its limits to further improve the efficiency of MOSFETs, researchers are looking to replacing certain parts of the device with ferroelectric materials.

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