By: Nir Kshetri, University of North Carolina – Greensboro

The world is full of connected devices – and more are coming. In 2017, there were an estimated 8.4 billion internet-enabled thermostats, cameras, streetlights and other electronics. By 2020 that number could exceed 20 billion, and by 2030 there could be 500 billion or more. Because they’ll all be online all the time, each of those devices – whether a voice-recognition personal assistant or a pay-by-phone parking meter or a temperature sensor deep in an industrial robot – will be vulnerable to a cyberattack and could even be part of one.

Today, many “smart” internet-connected devices are made by large companies with well-known brand names, like Google, Apple, Microsoft and Samsung, which have both the technological systems and the marketing incentive to fix any security problems quickly. But that’s not the case in the increasingly crowded world of smaller internet-enabled devices, like light bulbs, doorbells and even packages shipped by UPS. Those devices – and their digital “brains” – are typically made by unknown companies, many in developing countries, without the funds or ability – or the brand-recognition need – to incorporate strong security features.

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Researchers at KTH have successfully tested a new material that can be used for cheap and large-scale production of hydrogen – a promising alternative to fossil fuel.

Precious metals are the standard catalyst material used for extracting hydrogen from water. The problem is these materials – such as platinum, ruthenium and iridium – are too costly to make the process viable. A team from KTH Royal Institute of Technology recently announced a breakthrough that could change the economics of a hydrogen economy.

Led by Licheng Sun, professor of molecular electronics at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, the researchers concluded that precious metals can be replaced by a much cheaper combination of nickel, iron and copper (NiFeCu).

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Lenses are no longer necessary for some microscopes, according to the engineers developing FlatScope, a thin fluorescent microscope whose abilities promise to surpass those of old-school devices.

A paper in Science Advances describes a wide-field microscope thinner than a credit card, small enough to sit on a fingertip, and capable of micrometer resolution over a volume of several cubic millimeters.

FlatScope eliminates the tradeoff that hinders traditional microscopes in which arrays of lenses can either gather less light from a large field of view or gather more light from a smaller field.

Rice University engineers Ashok Veeraraghavan, Jacob Robinson, Richard Baraniuk, and their labs began developing the device as part of a federal initiative by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as an implantable, high-resolution neural interface. But the device’s potential is much greater.

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Researchers have created an algorithm that could work alongside an extremely sensitive laser technology that reflects off nearby objects to help self-driving cars see around corners.

Imagine that a driverless car is making its way through a winding neighborhood street, about to make a sharp turn onto a road where a child’s ball is rolling across the street. Although no person in the car can see that ball, the car stops to avoid it.

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Deadline for Submitting Abstracts
March 16, 2018
Submit today!

Topic Close-up #9

Symposium G03: SiGe, Ge, and Related Compounds: Materials, Processing, and Devices 8

Symposium Focus: This meeting is the 8th International ECS SiGe Symposium for the past 16 years (www.sigesymposium.com). It will provide a forum for people from industry, research institutions, and academics around the world to gather together in an unique and relaxed environment, reviewing and discussing materials and device related aspects of SiGe, Ge, and Related Compounds (Group IV incl. C and Sn alloys, and III/V on Si, as well as 2D materials). There are 10 areas of interests covering very broad spectrum from devices to fundamental material characterization, to stimulate information exchange and innovations, 1) Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors, 2) FET Technology, 3) Optoelectronics, 4) Epitaxy, 5) Emerging Applications, 6) Processing, 7) Strain Engineering, 8) Surfaces and Interfaces, 9) Related Compounds, 10) Metrology and Characterization.

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Join us as ECS comes to the Seattle Sheraton and Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, WA! Our strong technical program of 2,600 abstracts being presented in 46 symposia over five days will have something for everyone!

ECS meetings are well known for their strength in areas such as batteries/energy storage, fuel cells/energy conversion, carbon nanostructures, semiconductors, sensors, corrosion, and more. In addition, the Seattle meeting will explore newer areas such as materials recycling, data science for modeling and design, consumer products, and flexible electronics.

Take a moment and read a few topic close-ups, and see what is in store!

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Why do synthetic 2D materials often perform orders of magnitude worse than predicted? A new understanding of this scenario could improve the materials’ performance in future electronics, photonics, and memory storage.

2D materials are films only an atom or two thick. Researchers make 2D materials by the exfoliation method—peeling a slice of material off a larger bulk material—or by condensing a gas precursor onto a substrate. The former method provides higher-quality materials, but is not useful for making devices. The second method is well established in industrial applications, but yields low performance 2D films.

The researchers demonstrated, for the first time, why the quality of 2D materials grown by the chemical vapor deposition method have poor performance compared to their theoretical predictions. They report their results in Scientific Reports.

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Deadline for Submitting Abstracts
March 16, 2018
Submit today!

Topic Close-up #8

Symposium G01: Semiconductor Wafer Bonding: Science, Technology, and Applications 15

Symposium Focus: The fifteenth symposium solicits original theoretical and experimental papers that document new developments and cover the full range of basic science, process technologies, and product applications of semiconductor wafer bonding (direct, anodic, thermo-compression, eutectic, adhesive bonding). Besides permanent bonding, temporary wafer bonding technique deserves also to be discussed regarding all the recent development in many 3D applications. Fundamental aspects of interest include surface preparations for bonding, film transferring, low temperature bonding, surface activation at bonding interfaces, bonding techniques, novel material composites to synthesize heterostructures. Presentations characterizing currently utilized materials and processes, as well as novel approaches to new materials systems and modeling and process simulations are encouraged. Practical aspects of interest include innovative developments in product architecture and new integration and processing schemes for microelectronics, photonics, MEMS, microtechnologies, nanotechnologies and other relevant applications.

Invited Speakers from CEA-Leti, imec, EVG, KTH, Qromis, and more will be featured during the symposium.

By: Bob Marcotte, University of Rochester 

In order to power entire communities with clean energy, such as solar and wind power, a reliable backup storage system is needed to provide energy when the sun isn’t shining and the wind doesn’t blow.

One possibility is to use any excess solar- and wind-based energy to charge solutions of chemicals that can subsequently be stored for use when sunshine and wind are scarce. At that time, the chemical solutions of opposite charge can be pumped across solid electrodes, thus creating an electron exchange that provides power to the electrical grid.

The key to this technology, called a redox flow battery, is finding chemicals that can not only “carry” sufficient charge, but also be stored without degrading for long periods, thereby maximizing power generation and minimizing the costs of replenishing the system.

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Deadline for Submitting Abstracts
March 16, 2018
Submit today!

Topic Close-up #7

Symposium H07: Electronic, Thermal, and Electrochemical Properties of Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs): Technology, Applications, and Emerging Devices

Symposium Focus: The 1st International Symposium sponsored by the Electronics and Photonics Division of the Electrochemical Society brings together researchers in chemistry, materials science, physics, devices and process engineers and related interdisciplinary areas, to seek and capture the state-of-the art in MOF based fundamental aspects and latest technological applications. This symposium offers a new interdisciplinary and international platform, and aims to contribute towards advancing the fundamental understanding of the layered MOF thin films and aiming to improve technological applications thereof. Original contributions are solicited that cover all fundamental and applied aspects including electronic, thermal and electrochemical transport properties and phenomena, device/ system fabrication and integration of MOF thin films into emerging technological device applications. All oral presentations will be grouped into topical sessions. Invited Keynote speakers will present critical reviews covering recent advances and future directions in the diverse field of fundamental and applied MOF properties.

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