Metals Tech

Magnetic materials pose major limitations in power electronic applications at high frequencies, but MSE Professor Michael McHenry and alums Paul Ohodnicki, Alex Leary and Sam Kernion have made advancements on materials and their processing that can greatly increase motor and transformer efficiencies. Power electronics, like motors, gain power through speed. The speed, however, requires the […]

According to researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), a recently discovered family of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors could pave the way for high-performance and energy-efficient electronics. Their findings, published in npj 2D Materials and Applications, may lead to the fabrication of semiconductor devices applicable in mainstream electronics and optoelectronics—and even potentially replace […]

Every piece of data that travels over the internet—from paragraphs in an email to 3D graphics in a virtual reality environment—can be altered by the noise it encounters along the way, such as electromagnetic interference from a microwave or Bluetooth device. The data are coded so that when they arrive at their destination, a decoding […]

Rail transportation is core to Europe’s plans to become carbon neutral by 2050, but noisy trains represent an obstacle that needs to be overcome. “We have a lot of resistance from people (living) beside the tracks who are against all construction and upgrades of the lines,” said Rudiger Garburg, senior consultant for noise and vibrations […]

Combinatorial optimization problems are a class of hard computational problems that are commonly solved by computers for a variety of applications. Combinatorial optimization algorithms, for instance, allow economists to make predictions about a given market or help streaming platforms to recommend other suitable movies for individual users based on their past activity. The more complex […]

Most integrated circuits (ICs) and electronic components developed to date are based on silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. As silicon (Si) is known to have a narrow bandgap, however, in recent years engineers have been trying to develop ICs using other materials with a wider bandgap, such as gallium nitrite (GaN). ICs made of GaN could […]

Demonstrating next-generation energy technology, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are using topology optimization and metal 3D printing to design ultra-compact, high-power heat exchangers. Used in most major industries—including energy, water, manufacturing, transportation, construction, electronic, chemical, petrochemical, agriculture and aerospace—heat exchangers transfer thermal energy from one medium to another. For decades, heat exchanger designs […]

The miniaturization of electronics has resulted in an ever-increasing global market for portable devices. Correspondingly, it has become necessary to develop smaller and more lightweight power sources to operate these devices. In particular, there has been a growing interest in implementing flexibility into the power sources themselves, which would be useful for potential applications in […]

Bandgap engineering can improve the performance of optoelectronic devices that aim to harness the energy of “hot” electrons, research from KAUST shows. Semiconductors have a signature property known as the bandgap that essentially is a range of forbidden electron energies. Electrons with an energy above the top of the bandgap are free to move through […]

Major sporting events like the Paralympics are a breeding ground for technological innovation. Athletes, coaches, designers, engineers and sports scientists are constantly looking for the next improvement that will give them the edge. Over the past decade, 3D printing has become a tool to drive improvements in sports like running and cycling, and is increasingly […]