Opening tomorrow, Energy Taiwan today hosts a pre-show press conference with photovoltaic (PV) and offshore wind power experts exploring the future of smart energy, industry trends, and strategies for seizing renewable energy business opportunities. The largest renewable energy event in Taiwan, Energy Taiwan connects the global green energy supply chain for three days of expert insights into the latest technologies and business opportunities in solar PV, offshore wind power, hydrogen energy, smart energy storage, and green finance and insurance.
UCI Scientists Reveal Mechanism of Electron Charge Exchange in Molecules
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a new scanning transmission electron microscopy method that enables visualization of the electric charge density of materials at sub-angstrom resolution. With this technique, the UCI scientists were able to observe electron distribution between atoms and molecules and uncover clues to the origins of ferroelectricity, the capacity of certain crystals to possess spontaneous electric polarization that can be switched by the application of an electric field. The research, which is highlighted in a study published today in Nature, also revealed the mechanism of charge transfer between two materials.
Chinese and Korean Materials Suppliers Profiting from Japanese Politics
Chinese materials suppliers are moving to take market- share at South Korean chip fabrication (fab) lines. Due to residual animosity from 20th century wars, Japanese politicians decided to use the semiconductor materials supplier-chain as a pawn in a political chess game and un-white-listed South Korea from exports. Any good-will between the two nations was immediately erased, and South Korea announced a US$6B government investment to as a huge driving force to help develop local supplies. Now Chinese chemical suppliers have unprecedented openings to qualifications at Korean-owned fabs, including commercial memory fabs in China.
PROPHESEE Joins IRT Nanoelec 3D Integration Program
PROPHESEE, the inventor of the world’s most advanced neuromorphic vision systems, joins the IRT Nanoelec consortium to help broaden the field of potential applications for 3D hybrid wafer-to-wafer bonding with fine interconnect pitches. 3D integration brings, under a single roof, expertise and equipment addressing the entire 3D integration value chain: technology, circuit architecture, EDA tools, packaging and test. STMicroelectronics (IDM), Mentor (EDA), a Siemens business, EVG and SET (equipment suppliers), and CEA-Leti (RTO) are the current members of the consortium. Among other successes, they have developed the first 3D stack imager at a 1.44µm pitch using wafer-to-wafer direct hybrid technology.
Watching Energy Transport Through Biomimetic Nanotubes
Scientists from the University of Groningen (the Netherlands) and the University of Würzburg (Germany) have investigated a simple biomimetic light-harvesting system using advanced spectroscopy combined with a microfluidic platform. The double-walled nanotubes work very efficiently at low light intensities, while they are able to get rid of excess energy at high intensities. These properties are useful in the design of novel materials for the harvesting and transport of photon energy. The results were published in the journal Nature Communications on 10 October.
Growth of Near Field Communication (NFC) Chips Market to Be Impacted by the Increasing Demand for Smart Parking
The report, NFC chips market 2019-2023, has been added to Technavio’s catalog. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the market, including its global and regional market share as well as market segmentation based on product (smartphones, smart wearables, POS terminals, and others) and geography (APAC, Americas, and EMEA) for the forecast period 2019-2023.
2019 Microprocessor Slump Snaps Nine Years of Record Sales
The microprocessor market’s string of nine straight record-high annual sales between 2010 and 2018 is expected to end this year with worldwide MPU revenue dropping 4% to about $77.3 billion because of weakness in smartphone shipments, excess inventories in data center computers, and the global fallout from the U.S.-China trade war, according to IC Insights’ recently updated forecast.
Radiation Detector with the Lowest Noise in the World Boosts Quantum Work
Researchers from Aalto University and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland have built a super-sensitive bolometer, a type of thermal radiation detector. The new radiation detector, made of a gold-palladium mixture makes it easier to measure the strength of electromagnetic radiation in real time. Bolometers are used widely in thermal cameras in the construction industry and in satellites to measure cosmic radiation. The new developments may help bolometers find their way to quantum computers. If the new radiation detector manages to function as well in space as it does in the laboratory, it can also be used to measure cosmic microwave background radiation in space more accurately.
GLOBALFOUNDRIES Qualifies Synopsys Fusion Design Platform on 12LP FinFET Platform
Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS) today announced that GLOBALFOUNDRIES® (GF®) has qualified Synopsys’ Fusion Design Platform™ for its 12-nanometer (nm) Leading-Performance (12LP) FinFET platform. Optimized for the high-performance and low-power requirements of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and mobile system-on-chips (SoCs), the production-ready flow is based on the silicon-proven RTL-to-GDSII 12LP foundry reference flow and incorporates Synopsys Advanced Fusion technologies for best quality-of-results (QoR) and time-to-results (TTR) in FinFET designs.
Samsung Introduces Advanced Automotive Foundry Solutions Tailored to EMEA Market at Samsung Foundry Forum 2019 Munich
Samsung Electronics Co. today unveiled an expanded portfolio of cutting-edge foundry solutions at its Samsung Foundry Forum (SFF) 2019 Munich. Samsung attracted more than 200 industry experts from fabless companies and foundry partners, and 16 partner booths displayed advanced foundry technology trends, a significant increase in both numbers compared to last year, representing a more solid customer base of Samsung Foundry as well as greater collaboration in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).
