energy efficiency tagged posts

New memristor-based converter boosts energy efficiency in AI hardware

Cross-institutional team develops new memristor-based converter
Challenges in CIM systems for neural network computation. Credit: Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-65233-w

A cross-institutional team led by researchers from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), under the Faculty of Engineering at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), have achieved a major breakthrough in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) hardware by developing a new type of analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that uses innovative memristor technology. The work is published in Nature Communications.

Challenges with conventional AI hardware
Conventional AI accelerators face challenges because the essential components that convert analog signals into digital form are often bulky and power-consuming...

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Next-generation AI hardware: 3D photonic-electronic platform boosts efficiency and bandwidth

New study showcases 3D photonics with record performance for AI
3D photonic chip module. Credit: Keren Bergman

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems promise transformative advancements, yet their growth has been limited by energy inefficiencies and bottlenecks in data transfer. Researchers at Columbia Engineering have unveiled a groundbreaking solution: a 3D photonic-electronic platform that achieves unprecedented energy efficiency and bandwidth density, paving the way for next-generation AI hardware.

The study, “3D Photonics for Ultra-Low Energy, High Bandwidth-Density Chip Data Links,” led by Keren Bergman, Charles Batchelor Professor of Electrical Engineering, is published in Nature Photonics.

The research details a pioneering method that integrates photonics with advanced complementary-metal- oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) electronics to redef...

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Researchers create Breakthrough Spintronics Manufacturing Process that could Revolutionize the Electronics Industry

Computer data chip
University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers have developed a breakthrough process for making spintronic devices that has the potential to create semiconductor chips with unmatched energy efficiency and storage for use in computers, smartphones, and many other electronics.

May lead to devices with ‘unmatched’ energy efficiency and memory storage density. University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers, along with a team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), have developed a breakthrough process for making spintronic devices that has the potential to become the new industry standard for semiconductors chips that make up computers, smartphones, and many other electronics...

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The First Commercially Scalable Integrated Laser and Microcomb on a Single Chip

Artist's concept illustration of electrically controlled optical frequency combs at wafer scale
Artist’s concept illustration of electrically controlled optical frequency combs at wafer scale
Photo Credit: 
ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN LONG

Fifteen years ago, UC Jim Sanchezta Barbara electrical and materials professor John Bowers pioneered a method for integrating a laser onto a silicon wafer. The technology has since been widely deployed in combination with other silicon photonics devices to replace the copper-wire interconnects that formerly linked servers at data centers, dramatically increasing energy efficiency — an important endeavor at a time when data traffic is growing by roughly 25% per year.

For several years, the Bowers group has collaborated with the group of Tobias J...

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