If new and promising semiconductor materials are to make it into our phones, computers, and other increasingly capable electronics, researchers must obtain greater control over how those materials function. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers detailed how they designed and synthesized a unique material with controllable capabilities that make it very promising for future electronics.

Picosun Group, Finland-based, global provider of advanced Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) thin film coating solutions, has been chosen by a major Asian customer to deliver significant ALD production capacity for manufacturing of solid state lighting devices.

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in standards development for the microelectronics industry, 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 free download from the JEDEC website.

Silicon, the best-known semiconductor, is ubiquitous in electronic devices including cellphones, laptops and the electronics in cars. Now, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made the most sensitive measurements to date of how quickly electric charge moves in silicon, a gauge of its performance as a semiconductor.

Barium titanate is an important electroceramic material used in trillions of capacitors each year and found in most electronics. Penn State researchers have produced the material at record low temperatures, and the discovery could lead to more energy efficient manufacturing. A team of Penn State scientists used the cold sintering process to densify barium titanate ceramics at less than 572 degrees Fahrenheit (300 degrees Celsius), the lowest processing temperatures ever used, while maintaining the quality achieved at higher temperatures in modern commercial manufacturing, the researchers said.