Component Management
Crystal turns into an electric circuit
Washington State University physicists have found a way to write an electrical circuit into a crystal, opening up the possibility of transparent, 3D electronics that, like an Etch A Sketch, can be erased and reconfigured. The work, to appear in Scientific Reports, serves as a proof of concept for a phenomenon that WSU researchers first discovered by accident four years ago. At the time, a doctoral student found a 400-fold increase in th...
Cooling curtain made of porous triple-layer membrane
Climate change is leading to ever higher temperatures and aridity in many areas, making efficient room cooling increasingly important. An ETH doctoral student at the Functional Materials Laboratory has developed an alternative to electrically powered air conditioning: a cooling curtain made of a porous triple-layer membrane.
Seminar will focus on solder joint reliability
Indium Corporation is to partner with 3S Silicon Tech, Inc. to host a technology seminar on solder joint reliability for automotive electronics on Aug. 11 in Taiwan Hsinchu.
Smart fume extractor
JBC has just announced what it describes as its smart Fume Extractor FAE for electronics soldering applications. It is said to be capable of removing fumes safely and efficiently. The Fume Extractor FAE2-5A optimizes fume extraction operating only when needed. The FAE automatically starts working when the tool is in use. This function saves power and the life of the equipment as well as the filter.
Low viscosity conformal coating cures with light
An advanced electronics conformal coating formulated with a revolutionary new technology as an alternative to thin, solvent-based conformal coatings, the Dymax 9452-FC has been introduced from Intertronics. Whilst it has a very low viscosity – 20cP – it still provides good electrical insulation and protection against humidity, plus very good thermal shock and corrosion resistance.
Thermal greases or thermal phase change materials – you choose
As many of you know, providing an adequate thermally conductive interface between a component and its heatsink is essential to achieving long life and reliability. Traditionally, thermal greases have been the material of choice in this area, but new thermal phase change materials are now said to offer a stable alternative that is easier to apply. Thermal greases have relatively low thermal resistance and offer excellent thermal performance f...
Very soft thermal gap filler pads
Fujipoly's Sarcon PG25A is said to be one of the company’s softest and best performing thermal gap filler pads for applications that have delicate components and high compression rates. When it is sandwiched between components of varying shapes and sizes and a nearby heat sink or spreader, this compliant 2.5 W/m°K material exhibits a thermal resistance as low as 0.42°Cin2/W at 14 PSI.
Fast chemistry unlocks next-gen of polymers
A team of researchers has developed a faster and easier way to make sulfur-containing polymers that will lower the cost of large-scale production. The achievement, published in Nature Chemistry and Angewandte Chemie, opens the door to creating new products from this class of polymers while producing far less hazardous waste.
Magnetic semi-metal improves the efficiency of electronics
A recent discovery by a team of researchers led by Tulane University advances fundamental knowledge that could one day lead to more energy-efficient computers, televisions, cellphones and other electronics. The researchers' discovery of a new magnetic topological semimetal is featured in the latest edition of the prestigious journal Nature Materials. The Tulane team was led by physics professor Zhiqiang Mao, the Tulane School of Sc...
Understanding the hierarchical structure in carbon nanotubes
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists recently used synchrotron X-ray scattering to fully capture the hierarchical structure in self-organised carbon nanotube materials from the atomic to micrometer scale. Their work, recently published in ACS Nano, is the first to continuously map the structural order of nanotube ensembles across four orders of magnitude in length scale, all while employing a single technique.