"Two MIT researchers have developed a thin-film material, called a strontium cobaltite, or SrCoO_x, whose phase and electrical properties can be switched between metallic and semiconducting simply by applying a small voltage. The material then stays in its new configuration until switched back by another voltage. The discovery could pave the way for a new kind of "nonvolatile" computer memory chip that retains information when the power is switched off, and for energy conversion and catalytic applications."
  

"Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a simplified approach to fabricating flat, ultrathin optics. The new approach enables simple etching without the use of acids or hazardous chemical etching agents.

Researchers present plasmon-assisted etching as an approach to extend the do-it-yourself (DIY) theme to optics with only a modest tradeoff in quality, specifically, the table-top fabrication of planar optical components. Their method uses the intuitive design aspects of diffractive optics by way of simple surface modification, and the electric-field enhancement properties of metal nanoantennas."
  

"A dielectric film with a refractive index close to that of air could be used to make photonic devices more efficient and mechanically stable. Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a film made of aluminum oxide that has a refractive index as low as 1.025 but that is mechanically stiff.

The key to the film's performance is the highly ordered spacing of the pores, which gives it a more mechanically robust structure without impairing the refractive index. The pores are created in a polymer substrate using a new nanolithography technique. The porous polymer then serves as a template, which the researchers coat with a thin layer of aluminum oxide using atomic layer deposition. The polymer is then burned off, leaving behind a 3D aluminum oxide coating."
  

"An international research team has simplified the steps to create highly efficient silicon solar cells by applying a new mix of materials to a standard design. The special blend of materials-which could also prove useful in semiconductor components-eliminates the need for a process known as doping that alters the device's properties by introducing foreign atoms. This doping process adds complexity to the device and can degrade its performance.

The new study demonstrated a dopant-free silicon cell, referred to as a DASH cell (dopant free asymmetric heterocontact), with an average efficiency above 19 percent. The team used a room-temperature technique called thermal evaporation to deposit the layers of lithium fluoride and moly oxide for the new solar cell."
  

"Healthcare practitioners may one day be able to physically screen for breast cancer using pressure-sensitive rubber gloves to detect tumors, owing to a transparent, bendable and sensitive pressure sensor newly developed by Japanese and American teams.

Conventional pressure sensors are flexible enough to fit to soft surfaces such as human skin, but they cannot measure pressure changes accurately once they are twisted or wrinkled, making them unsuitable for use on complex and moving surfaces.

To address these issues, an international team of researchers led by the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Engineering has developed a nanofiber-type pressure sensor that can measure pressure distribution of rounded surfaces such as an inflated balloon and maintain its sensing accuracy even when bent over a radius of 80 micrometers, equivalent to just twice the width of a human hair. The sensor is roughly 8 micrometers thick and can measure the pressure in 144 locations at once."
  

"In a discovery that may lead to ways to prevent frost on airplane parts, condenser coils, and even windshields, a team of researchers led by Virginia Tech has used chemical micropatterns to control the growth of frost caused by condensation.

Researchers describe how they used photolithography to pattern chemical arrays that attract water over top of a surface that repels water, thereby controlling or preventing the spread of frost. The inspiration for the work came from an unlikely source - the Namib Desert Beetle, which makes headlines because it lives in one of the hottest places in the world, yet it still collects airborne water. The insect has a bumpy shell and the tips of the bumps attract moisture to form drops, but the sides are smooth and repel water, creating channels that lead directly to the beetle's mouth."
  

"Scientists at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are studying what may seem paradoxical - certain defects in silicon solar cells may actually improve their performance.

Deep-level defects frequently hamper the efficiency of solar cells, but NREL theoretical research suggests that defects with properly engineered energy levels can improve carrier collection out of the cell, or improve surface passivation of the absorber layer. Researchers at NREL ran simulations to add impurities to layers adjacent to the silicon wafer in a solar cell. Namely, they introduced defects within a thin tunneling silicon dioxide (SiO₂) layer that forms part of "passivated contact" for carrier collection, and within the aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) surface passivation layer next to the silicon (Si) cell wafer. In both cases, specific defects were identified to be beneficial.
  

"Gardeners often use sheets of plastic with strategically placed holes to allow their plants to grow but keep weeds from taking root. Scientists from UCLA's California NanoSystems Institute have found that the same basic approach is an effective way to place molecules in the specific patterns they need within tiny nanoelectronic devices. The technique could be useful in creating sensors that are small enough to record brain signals.

The researchers developed a sheet of graphene material with minuscule holes in it that they could then place on a gold substrate, a substance well suited for these devices. The holes allow molecules to attach to the gold exactly where the scientists want them, creating patterns that control the physical shape and electronic properties of devices that are 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair."
  

"Rice University researchers who pioneered the development of laser-induced graphene have configured their discovery into flexible, solid-state microsupercapacitors that rival the best available for energy storage and delivery. Microsupercapacitors are not batteries, but inch closer to them as the technology improves.

Rice's microsupercapacitors charge 50 times faster than batteries, discharge more slowly than traditional capacitors and match commercial supercapacitors for both the amount of energy stored and power delivered. The devices are manufactured by burning electrode patterns with a commercial laser into plastic sheets in room-temperature air, eliminating the complex fabrication conditions that have limited the widespread application of microsupercapacitors. The researchers see a path toward cost-effective, roll-to-roll manufacturing."
  

"While initial expectations forecasted a double-digit growth year, the world economy faded and dragged the semiconductor industry down to nearly flat 2015/2014 results.

However, 2015 will be remembered for its wild ride that fundamentally changed the industry. In 2015 a wave of M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) activity swept across the industry supply chain-unlike any single year before-with scores of transactions and notable multi-billion dollar companies absorbed. In 2016 we'll be working within a newly reconfigured supply chain.

Current projections for semiconductor equipment and materials suggest that 2016 will not be a high growth year. The span of forecasts ranges from almost -10% to +5%. Increasingly in this business landscape, collaboration is required simultaneously across the extended supply chain-customers' customers' customers are now routinely part of the discussion in unit process development."