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From ACM Tech News: Stretchy circuits, top ten technologies, more durable
electronics

Posted: 12 Jul 2016 12:32 PM PDT
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Fast, Stretchy Circuits Could Yield New Wave of Wearable Electronics


UW-Madison News (05/27/16) Renee Meiller

University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers led by professor Zhenqiang Ma
say they have created the fastest stretchable, wearable integrated circuits
in the world, which could further the Internet of Things and a more
connected, high-speed wireless world. Weve found a way to integrate
high-frequency active transistors into a useful circuit that can be
wireless, Ma says. This is a platform. This opens the door to lots of new
capabilities. The circuits design was inspired by twisted-pair telephone
cables, which contain two extremely small and intertwining power
transmission lines in repeating S-curves. The configuration is built in two
layers with segmented metal blocks, enabling the lines to stretch without
inhibiting performance while also protecting them from interference.
Current loss also is substantially mitigated by confinement of the
electromagnetic waves flowing through the lines. The circuits currently
operate at radio frequency levels up to 40 GHz, with a thickness of 25
micrometers. The researchers say their extremely small size makes them very
effective in epidermal electronic systems, which could enable medical staff
to monitor patients wirelessly and remotely.Â*View Full Article






The Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2016
KurzweilAI.netÂ*(06/23/16)

The World Economic Forum (WEF) last week published its annual list of 2016s
breakthrough technologies, with a specific focus on closing the gaps in
investment and regulation. Horizon scanning for emerging technologies is
crucial to staying abreast of developments that can radically transform our
world, enabling timely expert analysis in preparation for these disruptors,
says WEF Meta-Council on Emerging Technologies chair Bernard Meyerson. The
global community needs to come together and agree on common principles if
our society is to reap the benefits and hedge the risks of these
technologies. The 10 leading technologies on the 2016 WEF list include
nanosensors and the Internet of Nanothings, which involve tiny sensors that
can be circulated in the human body or embedded in construction materials.
Also making the list is blockchain cryptocurrency, with its potential to
transform how markets and governments function. Other cited technologies
include self-driving vehicles, miniature organ models, and next-generation
sodium-, aluminum,- and zinc-based batteries that could support clean and
reliable mini-grids. The list also included perovskite solar cells, which
offer near-ubiquitous deployment, easier fabrication, and more efficient
power production than silicon solar cells. WEFs list also includes an open
artificial intelligence ecosystem driven by innovations in natural-language
processing, social-awareness algorithms, and data availability, enabling
versatile smart digital assistants.Â*View Full Article




Stanford Research May Lead to More Durable Electronic Devices Such as
Cellphones
Stanford News (06/27/16) Andrew Myers

Stanford University researchers have found the glassy materials in
transistors respond very differently to compression than they do to the
tension of bending and stretching. The glassy materials are actually
stiffer when compressed than when stretched, and we can use this knowledge
to design more durable chips and devices, says Stanford professor Reinhold
Dauskardt. When active, electronic devices heat up and the components
expand; when not in use, the components cool down and contract. The
materials response to this expansion and contraction is inherently related
to the interaction within the network of atoms or groups of atoms that do
not fully bond during production. In compression, these atoms strongly
repel each other to make the network stiffer. In tension, their failure to
bond causes the same atoms to interact less, making the materials less
stiff and, consequently, more expansive than expected when they heat up. If
you could get rid of all of the unbonded terminal groups and create an
absolutely flawless material, you would not see these asymmetries, but we
cant, so we have to understand and accommodate this knowledge in design,
Dauskardt says. Thanks to the Stanford research, materials scientists will
have to integrate the results into their mathematical algorithms, which
currently assume the stiffness is symmetrical.Â*View Full Article






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