Electronic components join forces to take up 10 times Less Space on computer Chips


Electron microscope image of an array of new chip components that integrate the inductors, blue, and capacitors, yellow, needed to make the electronic signal filters in phones and other wireless devices.
Image courtesy Xiuling Li

Electronic filters are essential to the inner workings of our phones and other wireless devices. They eliminate or enhance specific input signals to achieve the desired output signals. They are essential, but take up space on the chips that researchers are on a constant quest to make smaller. A new study demonstrates the successful integration of the individual elements that make up electronic filters onto a single component, significantly reducing the amount of space taken up by the device.

Researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign have di...

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NASA sounding Rocket finds Helium Structures in Sun’s Atmosphere

A composite image of the Sun showing the hydrogen (left) and helium (center and right) in the low corona. The helium at depletion near the equatorial regions is evident.
Credits: NASA

Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen. But scientists aren’t sure just how much there actually is in the Sun’s atmosphere, where it is hard to measure. Knowing the amount of helium in the solar atmosphere is important to understanding the origin and acceleration of the solar wind—the constant stream of charged particles from the Sun.

In 2009, NASA launched a sounding rocket investigation to measure helium in the extended solar atmosphere—the first time we’ve gathered a full global map...

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Materials Science Researchers develop First Electrically Injected Laser

Schematic illustration of electrically injected germanium-tin laser and its power output versus current and spectrum characteristics.

Materials science researchers, led by electrical engineering professor Shui-Qing “Fisher” Yu, have demonstrated the first electrically injected laser made with germanium tin. Used as a semiconducting material for circuits on electronic devices, the diode laser could improve micro-processing speed and efficiency at much lower costs.

In tests, the laser operated in pulsed conditions up to 100 kelvins, or 279 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.
“Our results are a major advance for group-IV-based lasers,” Yu said...

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Pinpointing the Cells that keep the Body’s Master Circadian Clock Ticking

Noneuron
The image shows a series of suprachiasmatic nucleus slices expressing click beetle green in AVP neurons and click beetle red in non-AVP neurons. As time progresses (spiraling into the image), the AVP (green) and non-AVP (red) neurons luminesce together rhythmically, thanks to the intact genetic clocks of the AVP neurons and exchange of neuronal signals. Digital manipulation of bioluminescence images. Artwork by John Abel and Alta Lewis Millard. Credit: Neuron

A new mouse model helps researchers study the roles of cell types in keeping time inside the body. UT Southwestern scientists have developed a genetically engineered mouse and imaging system that lets them visualize fluctuations in the circadian clocks of cell types in mice...

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