ENERGY | WIRELESS | NANOTECH | MEMS | OPTICS | QUANTUM | 3D | CHIPS | ALGORITHMS

Monday, December 22, 2003

"NANOTECH: Intel founder joins ZettaCore's board"
Molecular-memory chip startup ZettaCore Inc. last week appointed Intel Corp. co-founder Les Vadasz to its board of directors. Vadasz was a part of Intel's founding team in 1968 and subsequently managed the design teams for the world's first DRAM, the world's first EPROM and, most importantly, the world's first microprocessor. ZettaCore claims that within the decade almost every electronic device will contain memory based on its molecular memories, nonvolatile chips with low power consumption that will be capable of storing gigabytes. "This is a very interesting technology capability that will be a contender for semiconductor memory technology," said Vadasz.
Audio Interviews / Text: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20031222S0028
"Les nanotubes remportent le record de mobilit� de porteur de charges dans Les nanotubes de carbone ont r�cemment �tabli un nouveau record en termes de mobilit� de porteur de charges dans un semi-conducteur � temp�rature ambiante, d�passant d'environ 23 % le record ant�rieur �tabli en 1955 par l'antimoniure. Ce nouveau record, mesur� par le professeur Michael Fuhrer et ses coll�gues du Center for Superconductivity Research de l'Universit� du Maryland (College Park), indique que le silicium combin� � des nanotubes peut d�passer m�me les alternatives les plus exotiques existant aujourd'hui en termes de rapidit�.
Audio Interviews / Text: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20031222S0011

Thursday, December 18, 2003

"NANOTECH: Sapphire taper spawns silica nanowire"
A nanowire manufacturing method has yielded 50-nm optical cables &3151; one-thousandth the thickness of a human hair � by drawing a millimeter-sized silica wire across a sapphire taper. Since the nanowire's 50-nm diameter is as much as one-third the size of the wavelength of light going through it, light spirals around the outside of the fiber (rather than inside it) with minimal signal loss.
Audio Interviews / Text: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20031218S0022
"NANOSCALE: devices called nearly fit for fabrication"
As downsized silicon devices approach nanometer dimensions, single-molecule memory cells challenge conventional wisdom. Today every micron-size capacitor in a DRAM cell is fastidiously refreshed every millisecond just to guarantee that bleeding electrons don't float the voltage past the boundary between zero and one. If that's the case, how often will individual molecules and single-electron devices need refreshing? Will nanoscale devices retain the same properties of their micron-size brethren? Will such organic molecules even be able to survive the high temperatures of semiconductor fabrication? Researchers are attempting to answer these questions by carefully characterizing single-molecule devices. While no one is yet claiming that nanometer-size single molecules are ready to replace micron-size DRAM capacitors, some results suggest that it won't be long before molecular-size devices can be fabricated into reliable memories.
Audio Interviews / Text: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20031218S0018

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

"NANOTUBES: snag semiconductor carrier mobility record"
Carbon nanotubes recently set a record for carrier mobility in a semiconductor at room temperature, surpassing the previous record, set in 1955 by indium antimonide (InSb), by about 23 percent. The new record, measured by professor Michael Fuhrer and colleagues at the University of Maryland's Center for Superconductivity Research (College Park), indicates that silicon combined with nanotubes could outpace even the most exotic alternatives available today.
Audio Interview / Text: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20031217S0020

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

"NANOTECH: Molecular memory startup snags ex-Intel exec Les Vadasz"
Molecular memory chip startup, ZettaCore Inc. will announce Wednesday (Dec. 17) the appointment of Intel co-founder Les Vadasz to its board of directors. Vadasz was a part of Intel's founding team in 1968 and subsequently managed the design teams for the world's first DRAM, EPROM and, most importantly, the world's first microprocessor. Likewise, Denver-based ZettaCore plans to begin it development work with molecular memory chips before taking on the rest of the semiconductor industry. The company claims that within the decade "almost every electronic device will contain memory based on a new generation of technology," namely its molecular memories capable of storing gigabytes on chips that are less power hungry and nonvolatile.
Audio Interviews / Text: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20031216S0016

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

"Intel va proposer les premiers algorithmes d'apprentissage de cause � effet"
Intel Corp. a d�voil� cette semaine une machine polyvalente d'apprentissage capable de fusionner des flux distincts provenant de capteurs en temps r�el aussi facilement que de d�tecter et d'identifier des objets et des conditions. Propos� comme un logiciel � libre �, ce progiciel d'apprentissage t�l�chargeable sera pr�sent� cette semaine lors de la conf�rence Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) � Vancouver, au Canada. Pour la toute premi�re fois, selon Intel, sa biblioth�que de r�seau probabiliste permettra d'int�grer facilement les relations de cause � effet dans des programmes de contr�le qui surveillent les r�seaux de captage. Avant les r�seaux probabilistes, les m�thodes statistiques pouvaient uniquement cat�goriser les corr�lations. Elles pouvaient, par exemple, lier une pelouse humide � la pluie, mais elles �taient incapables de d�terminer la cause. En ajoutant des graphes orient�s qui indiquent le sens de la causalit�, des nombres importants de flux de donn�es peuvent �tre r�duits � des conclusions en se contentant de suivre ces graphes.
Audio Interviews / Text: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20031209S0003

Monday, December 08, 2003

"ALGORITHM: Intel to release first 'causal' learning algorithms"
Intel Corp. unveils a do-everything machine learning package this week capable of fusing separate streams from real-time sensors as easily as spotting and identifying objects and conditions. Released as "open source" software, the downloadable machine learning suite will be described at the Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) conference this week in Vancouver, B.C. For the first time ever, according to Intel, its probabalistic network library will enable causal relations to be easily cast into control programs that monitor sensor networks. Prior to probabalistic networks, statistical methods could only categorize correlations, which could relate, for example, a wet lawn to rain, but not tell which caused which. By adding directed graphs, which show the direction of causality, large numbers of incoming data streams can be tamed down to the conclusions that should be drawn from them by merely "following the graph."
Audio Interviews / Text: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20031208S0008

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

"NANOTECH R&D act becomes law"
President Bush signed into law the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act on Wed. (Dec.3), which has been approved by both Houses of Congress after months of haggling. The $3.7 billion appropriation will be divided among eight government agencies: National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Justice, Department of Transportation and the Department of Agriculture (NSF, DOE, NASA, NIST, EPA, DOJ, DOT, DOA, respectively).
Audio Interviews / Text: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20031203S0025

Monday, December 01, 2003

"NANOTECH: Sandia: Output/wavelength firsts for deep-UV LEDs"
Sandia National Laboratories is reporting new levels of wavelength/power output for deep-ultraviolet LEDs, which are considered critical to future semiconductors, biosensors and communications. Two deep-UV semiconductor LEDs registered output power of 1.3 and 0.4 milliwatts at wavelengths of 290 nanometers and 275 nm, respectively. Both were described as record-setting marks.
Audio Interviews / Text: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20031201S0036
"NANOTECH:Nanoscale devices self-assemble through magnetism"
Nanoscale devices have been "self-assembled" in the lab to demonstrate everything from a single-molecule transistor to a computer-in-a-test-tube. But with no way to self- assemble a complex system, they remain laboratory curiosities. Magnetic self-assembly, argue its inventors at Drexel University (Chicago), could bridge the gap by filling in predefined areas on already fabricated silicon wafers with arrays of molecular-size devices. The technique uses colloidal superparamagnetic nanoparticles to populate specific areas of a wafer with molecular devices at room temperature.
Audio Interviews / Text: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20031201S0075
"NANOTECH: The uses of imperfection"
Forget the doomsayers' prediction of legions of nanobots wreaking havoc when it comes time for fabrication. Researchers in the nano trenches insist that molecular-scale devices will remain tethered tightly to existing silicon lithography for the foreseeable future.
Audio Interviews / Text: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20031201S0035