Flaney Associates LLC’s Post

Challenges and Future Directions of Quantum Wires Material Quality: Achieving high-quality quantum wires with minimal defects is crucial for their performance. Ongoing research focuses on improving fabrication techniques to reduce impurities and structural imperfections. Integration: Integrating quantum wires with existing semiconductor technologies and scalable manufacturing processes is a significant challenge. Developing compatible and efficient integration methods is essential for commercial applications. Quantum Effects at Room Temperature: Enhancing the stability of quantum effects at room temperature is critical for practical applications. Researchers are exploring new materials and structures to achieve robust quantum behavior under ambient conditions. Quantum wires represent a promising and versatile technology with the potential to revolutionize various fields, from electronics to quantum computing. The ongoing research and development efforts aim to harness their unique properties for future innovations. #quantumwire #quantummechanics #quantumsmiconductor #quantumphysics #quantum #quantumcommunication

Connecting the quantum dots 💠 This Lab discovery could revolutionize the $515 billion silicon chip industry — and computing as we know it. What are quantum dots? They're synthetic nanoparticles about 1/10,000th the thickness of a human hair, so tiny that they exhibit quantum behavior. By harnessing the dots’ unique quantum properties, Lab scientists hope to make electrically driven lasers that could send information at the speed of light. ⚡ See the science in our #1663Magazine 👇 https://ow.ly/7mRy50R8Kfn

Researchers at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) have used the scanning ultrafast electron microscope (SUEM) to capture the first-ever images of electric charges moving across semiconductor materials inside a solar cell. This advancement will help validate theories and indirect measurements in semiconductor materials, crucial for applications from solar cells to computer chips. One common issue with semiconductor-based devices is the generation of excess heat. By visualizing the movement of photocarriers, UCSB researchers led by Professor Bolin Liao aim to improve energy efficiency. Using ultrafast laser pulses, they captured the movement of photocarriers in silicon-germanium heterojunctions at picosecond timescales. This breakthrough not only confirms semiconductor theory but also showcases the potential of ultrafast electron microscopy to study semiconductor devices, paving the way for more efficient energy-harvesting technologies. #SolarCell #Semiconductors #UCSBResearch #UltrafastMicroscopy #CleanEnergy #EnergyEfficiency #TechInnovation #Science

CityUHK Breaks New Ground in High-Speed Signal Processing with World-Leading Chip Excited to share a breakthrough from CityUHK researchers! The Research team, led by Prof. Wang Cheng, has developed a world-first microwave photonic chip capable of ultrafast analog signal processing and computation using light (optics). This innovation is 1000x faster and consumes less energy than traditional processors, making it ideal for: 5G/6G communication systems High-resolution radar systems Artificial intelligence (AI) Computer vision Image/video processing This research, published in Nature, paves the way for a new era of high-speed, energy-efficient signal processing. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dnvpAHjS #engineering #innovation #research #microwavephotonics #chip #electronics #AI #5G #futureoftechnolog #Photonics #PhotonicsTimes #PhotonicSpots City University of Hong Kong Image description: CityUHK researchers with the groundbreaking MWP chip, enabling ultrafast signal processing and computation using light.

Quantum dots and metasurfaces: deep connections in the nano world Metasurfaces have recently been the focus of extensive research for their ability to control the polarization and emission direction of light from quantum dots. Quantum dots, which are nanoscale semiconductor particles, are highly efficient light emitters capable of emitting light at precise wavelengths. This makes them widely used in applications such as QLEDs and quantum computing. However, conventional processes cannot embed quantum dots within metasurfaces. As a result, research has often involved fabricating metasurfaces and quantum dots separately and then combining them, which imposes limitations on controlling the luminescence of the quantum dots. https://lnkd.in/gMkJe6mP #nanotechnology #electronics #semiconductor #sensors #innovation #scienceandtechnology #engineering

Another silicon photonic integration success, this time from Hong Kong, heralding new era of high performance computing at low energy for handling big data, edge computing, AI and super computing applications has been brought forth. These researchers have developed a new integration technique for efficient integration of III-V compound semiconductor devices and silicon, paving the way for photonic integration at low cost, large volume, and high speed and throughput that could revolutionize data communications. While silicon can handle passive optical functions, it struggles with active tasks, such as generating light (lasers) or detecting it (photodetectors)—both key components for data generation and readout. This necessitates the integration of III-V semiconductor (which uses materials from groups III and V of the periodic table) onto a silicon substrate for complete functionality and enhanced efficiency. But while III-V semiconductors do the active tasks well, they do not naturally work well with silicon. This team tackled this challenge by finding a way to make III-V devices work efficiently with silicon. They developed a technique called lateral aspect ratio trapping (LART)—a novel selective direct epitaxy method that can selectively grow III-V materials on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) in a lateral direction without the need for thick buffers. While no integration methods reported in literature could solve the challenge with high coupling efficiency and high production volume, their method achieved an in-plane III-V laser, so that the III-V laser can couple with Si in the same plane, which is efficient. The start of the Zettabyte Era in 2016 ushered in soaring growth in data generation, processing, transmission, storage, and readout. This surge in data poses critical challenges of speed, bandwidth, cost, and power consumption. This is where photonic integration, in particular Si-photonics, comes in. In the next steps, the team plans to show that III-V lasers integrated with silicon waveguides can perform well, as in having a low threshold, high output power, long lifetime, and the ability to operate at high temperatures. There are key scientific challenges to address before this technique could be used in real life, she said. But it will enable new-generation communications and various emerging applications and research areas, including supercomputers, artificial intelligence (AI), biomedicine, automotive applications, and neural and quantum networks. #climatechange #bigdata #ml #autonomousvehicles #iot #supercomputers #siliconphotonics

Scientists have just uncovered a game-changing type of superconductor, and it’s a big deal for tech and quantum computing! This new “Type III” superconductor can conduct electricity without any energy loss—even in strong magnetic fields! How cool is that? Superconductors have been around for over a century, known for their ability to carry electricity without resistance, but they usually only work at super low temperatures (think -273 degrees Celsius!). High-temperature superconductors were discovered in 1986, which helped with innovations like MRI machines and quantum computing. Until now, there were only two types: Type I and Type II. Type I superconductors expel magnetic fields until a certain point, while Type II allows some magnetic field penetration, leading to energy losses through something called Abrikosov vortices. But here comes the exciting part—Type III superconductors don’t create those pesky normal cores in vortices, meaning they can maintain their superconducting properties even in high magnetic fields without energy loss! The research team from the University of Perugia, SwissScientific, and Terra Quantum has been working on this for decades. They first theorized this third type back in 1996 and recently proved its unique resistance behavior through experiments. This could revolutionize quantum computing by enabling superconducting qubits that work at higher temperatures without power losses! This discovery opens up tons of new possibilities for superconducting devices and could change the game in tech. The findings were published in the journal Physical Review B, so keep an eye on this space! #Superconductors #QuantumComputing #TechRevolution #ScienceRocks #Innovation #StayCurious https://lnkd.in/ecBhK3kR

"Semiconductors are ubiquitous in modern technology, working to either enable or prevent the flow of electricity. In order to understand the potential of two-dimensional semiconductors for future computer and photovoltaic technologies, researchers from the Universities of Göttingen, Marburg and Cambridge investigated the bond that builds between the electrons and holes contained in these materials. By using a special method to break up the bond between electrons and holes, they were able to gain microscopic insight into charge transfer processes across a semiconductor interface. The results were published in Science Advances." #materialscience

Transistors are less salient than the zeitgeist around large language models, but MIT researchers recently made a breakthrough in transistor technology that could transform energy efficiency in electronics. Traditional silicon transistors, limited by “Boltzmann tyranny,” require a minimum voltage for operation, limiting their efficiency. As MIT postdoc Yanjie Shao explains, the new transistors “could replace silicon,” operating at much lower voltages, yet delivering high performance. Using materials like gallium antimonide and indium arsenide, the team developed a three-dimensional transistor that uses vertical nanowires only six nanometers wide. These transistors leverage quantum tunneling, a property that allows electrons to move through barriers, enabling efficient switching at low voltages. “This is the first time we have been able to achieve such sharp switching steepness,” Shao said. The researchers' precise fabrication at MIT.nano enables sharp switching slopes and high current, with the smallest reported 3D transistors to date. These transistors offer an alternative to silicon, enhancing efficiency in fields requiring fast and powerful computation, such as AI. Professor Jesús del Alamo, the project’s senior author, remarked, “With conventional physics, there is only so far you can go. This work shows that we can do better by using different physics.” The results are a promising step toward commercial applications. Future research will focus on refining manufacturing processes to improve device uniformity across entire chips. #MIT #TransistorInnovation #QuantumTunneling #Electronics https://lnkd.in/eXytaPJV

📣 Check out this research results carried out by the team of Prof. Andras Kis (Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures - LANES) and published in 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑵𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚. 👉 They have created a device that can efficiently convert heat into electrical voltage at temperatures lower than that of outer space. The innovation could help overcome a significant obstacle to the advancement of quantum computing technologies, which require extremely low temperatures to function optimally. https://lnkd.in/eY9ChH7a