Whole new chip fabs will be required to keep up with growing industry demand. But to attack the current shortage, debottlenecking existing processes is critical. Additive manufacturing offers one set of solutions.
A three-qubit entangled state has been realized in a fully controllable array of spin qubits in silicon.
An all-RIKEN team has increased the number of silicon-based spin qubits that can be entangled from two to three, highlighting the potential of spin qubits for realizing multi-qubit quantum algorithms.
Quantum computers have the potential to leave conventional computers in the dust when performing certain types of calculations. They are based on quantum bits, or qubits, the quantum equivalent of the bits that conventional computers use.
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 have notable advantages over conventional ICs based on silicon, particularly for the development of power electronics, radiofrequency power amplifiers and devices designed to operate in harsh environments. However, so far developing GaN CMOS logic circuits has proved to be highly challenging, due to the intrinsically low mobility of holes in the material and the lack of a suitable strategy for integrating n-channel and p-channel field-effect transistors (n-FETs and p-FETs) on a single substrate.
Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have recently realized a series of GaN-based complementary logic ICs. Their paper, published in Nature Electronics, could have important implications for the development of new types of electronics.
Not content with relying on standard chips that are in high demand, some of the world’s biggest tech firms are developing their own semiconductors.
Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Tesla and Baidu are all shunning established chip firms and bringing certain aspects of chip development in-house, according to company announcements and media reports.
“Increasingly, these companies want custom-made chips fitting their applications’ specific requirements rather than use the same generic chips as their competitors,” Syed Alam, global semiconductor lead at Accenture, told CNBC.
One of the biggest barriers standing in the way of useful quantum computers is how error-prone today’s devices are.
Why does this matter?
Because creating reliably successful quantum computers will allow us to better control the building blocks of life and the universe.
Tiny particles from distant galaxies have caused plane accidents, election interference and game glitches. This video is sponsored by Brilliant. The first 200 people to sign up via https://brilliant.org/veritasium get 20% off a yearly subscription.
This video was inspired by the RadioLab Podcast “Bit Flip” https://ve42.co/BF — they’re brilliant science storytellers.
Sept 6 (Reuters) — The city of Taylor, Texas — one of two locations in the state under consideration by Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) for a $17 billion chip plant — plans to offer extensive property tax breaks if it is chosen by the South Korean tech giant.
Taylor is competing with Austin, Texas to land the plant which is expected to create about 1,800 new jobs. Samsung has also said it is looking at other potential sites in Arizona and New York.
Other potential sites have yet to disclose planned tax breaks.
Flying a thrust-vectoring rocket can be a challenge, and even more so if you stack multiple stages and a minimalist flight computer on top of it all. But [Joe Barnard] is not one to shy away from such a challenge, so he built a three stage actively guided rocket named Shreeek.
[Joe] is well known for his thrust-vectoring rockets, some of which have came within a hair’s breadth of making a perfect powered landing. Previous rockets have used larger, more complex flight computers, but for this round, he wanted to go as small and minimalist as possible. Each stage of the rocket has its own tiny 16 × 17 mm flight computer and battery. The main components are a SAM21 microcontroller running Arduino firmware, an IMU for altitude and orientation sensing, and a FET to trigger the rocket motor igniter. It also has servo outputs for thrust vector control (TVC), and motor control output for the reaction wheel on the third stage for roll control. To keep it simple he omitted a way to log flight data, a decision he later regretted. Shreeek did not have a dedicated recovery system on any of the stages, instead relying on its light weight and high drag to land intact.
Continue reading “Three-Stage Thrust Vectoring Model Rocket With Tiny Flight Computers” »
Sam Zeloof, 21 builds homemade semiconductors in his family’s garage in Flemington, N.J. (In his latest video, Zeloof refers to it casually as his “garage fab.”) The Carnegie Mellon University student has been doing it since high school, becoming a truly inspiring example of just how far a do-it-yourself spirit can take you.
And best of all, he’s documented it all in detailed blog posts and nearly 50 videos uploaded to YouTube, sharing what he’s learned for others who might follow in his footsteps.
Continue reading “Meet the College Student Who Makes His Own Chips” »
A new theory of how the brain works — neural transduction theory — might upend everything we know about consciousness and the universe itself.
