Component Management
Self-assembly technique could lead to smaller microchip patterns
For the last few decades, microchip manufacturers have been on a quest to find ways to make the patterns of wires and components in their microchips ever smaller, in order to fit more of them onto a single chip and thus continue the relentless progress toward faster and more powerful computers. That progress has become more difficult recently, as manufacturing processes bump up against fundamental limits involving, for example, the wavelengths of...
Insights may lead to development of superior metallic alloys
An international research collaboration led by scientists at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has explained a long-standing thermodynamic inconsistency in the formation of a class of metallic glass that may lead to the development of new, better metallic alloys. Metallic glass is considered to be an advanced material because of its exceptional physical properties, such as superior strength, hardness, wear, resistance to corrosion and for...
Surprising twist in confined liquid crystals
Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have found a material used for decades to colour food items ranging from corn chips to ice creams could potentially have uses far beyond food dyes. In a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers described how a class of water soluble liquid crystals, called lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals, exhibited unexpected characteristics that co...
Bee grooming behaviour could improve microelectromechanical cleaning
A study on the grooming habits of bees has given new physical insight into the process of pollination, and could have implications for future MEMS. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA, and Kiel University in Germany, examined how pollenating insects that purposely cover themselves with millions of pollen particles get clean enough to fly. Their study, published in the journal Bioinspriation and Biom...
Adhesive for bonding lens holders in camera modules
Engineered Material Systems has introduced its 631-39 UV plus thermal cured adhesive for bonding lens holders in camera module applications. It is designed to adhere to engineered plastics used in lens holder assemblies. These materials are engineered to withstand circuit board reliability test criteria.
Toughened epoxy for dam-and-fill encapsulation
Master Bond Supreme 3HTND-2DM is a rapid curing, toughened, one part epoxy system used for the dam-and-fill method for chip-on-board encapsulation. Essentially, there are two methods to protect chips and their wire bonds. One method is referred to as glob top, where the encapsulating system is dispensed and applied directly to the area to be protected. The dam-and-fill method entails dispensing the damming material around the area to be encapsula...
Light can remotely control curvature of plastics
Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a technique that uses light to get 2D plastic sheets to curve into 3D structures, such as spheres, tubes or bowls. The advance builds on earlier work by the same research team, which focused on self-folding 3D structures. The key advance here is that rather than having the plastic fold along sharp lines - into polygonal shapes such as cubes or pyramids - the pl...
Bacteria produce polymers and intermediate products
In July 2015, the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection set up the project group “Resource-friendly Biotechnology in Bavaria – BayBiotech.” The aim is to contribute to resource-friendliness through application specific research projects in the field of biotechnology and to support the transition to a sustainable bio-economy. Today scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the University of...
High-power curing lamps are touchscreen-controlled
DELO Industrial Adhesives introduces a new generation of the DELOLUX 20 and DELOLUX 202 LED area lamps with higher intensities. Both lamps can be operated and controlled via the touch screen of the newly developed DELOLUX pilot. The LED curing lamps ensure utmost reliability in adhesive curing. Their slim design makes it possible to combine any number of lamp modules of the same type, allowing homogeneous curing of large bonding areas.
Tarnish-proof films suit flexible displays and touch screens
The thinnest, smoothest layer of silver that can survive air exposure has been laid down at the University of Michigan, and it could change the way touchscreens and flat or flexible displays are made. It could also help improve computing power, affecting both the transfer of information within a silicon chip and the patterning of the chip itself through metamaterial superlenses.