Science and Enterprise

Tag: semiconductors

  • Circuit Manufacturer Acquires Wireless Network Developer

    Silicon Laboratories Inc. in Austin, Texas has acquired Ember Corporation in Boston to supplement the Silicon Labs product line in low-power networking for home and business applications. The initial value of the purchase is placed at $72 million. Ember is expected to contribute $10-$12 million in revenue in the second half of 2012. Silicon Labs…

  • Faster, Higher Capacity Memory Chip Developed

    Engineers at University College London (UCL), with colleagues in France and Spain, have developed a silicon oxide memory chip that is faster can operate in ambient conditions. The discovery is described online in the Journal of Applied Physics (paid subscription required), and a patent has been filed for the technology. The team led by UCL…

  • Semiconductor Venture Investment Jumps in April

    Venture capital investments in semiconductor companies worldwide rose significantly in April 2012, compared both to March and April 2011. The Global Semiconductor Alliance in London compiles and publishes these statistics each month. The organization reports that semiconductor companies received $194.2 million in venture capital in April 2012, a 10-fold increase over March 2012, and more…

  • LED Process Adapts Ultraviolet Light to Kill Pathogens

    Researchers from North Carolina and Japan have devised a light-emitting diode (LED) process that uses ultraviolet (UV) light to kill pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. Their discoveries are described in the May issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters (paid subscription required). The research team included materials scientists and engineers from North Carolina State…

  • Gates Award to Fund Tattoo-Like Pregnancy Monitor Device

    The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a Grand Challenges Explorations grant for development of an electronic device similar to a tattoo that can continuously monitor the progress of a pregnancy. The award goes to University of California-San Diego bioengineering professor Todd Coleman and materials science and engineering professor John Rogers at University of…

  • Challenge Seeks Solution for Tracking Electronic Waste

    A challenge on InnoCentive seeks solutions for tracking shipments of used electronic components and subsystems and ensuring that they are disposed responsibly. The crowd-sourced contest will award prizes totaling $10,000 and has a deadline extended to 3 June 2012. The challenge is co-sponsored by IT services company EMC Corporation and the Environmental Defense Fund. Participants…

  • Companies Join Stanford/Berkeley Open Networking Consortium

    Twelve companies in software, mobile computing, semiconductors, and IT equipment have joined with research groups at Stanford University and University of California at Berkeley to explore software-defined networking as a new paradigm in networking. The aim of the Open Networking Research Center (ONRC) is to develop the intellectual foundations of software-defined networking in order to…

  • NSF Computer Science Funding Addresses Robots, Big Data

    National Science Foundation today unveiled $40 million in funding for this year’s Expeditions in Computing awards. The four sets of five-year grants, each set totaling $10 million, go one or more universities studying robotics, exploding volumes of data, and computer-assisted programming. Two sets of awards deal with robotics. One team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology,…

  • Process Developed to Self-Assemble Materials into Objects

    Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have devised a process to enable the self-assembly of smart materials into predetermined shapes. Computer science professor Daniela Rus and grad student Kyle Gilpin from MIT’s Distributed Robotics Laboratory will discuss their findings at the  IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in May 2012. The research by Rus…

  • Texas Instruments Opens New Analog Chip Research Lab

    Semiconductor manufacturer Texas Instruments launches today a new Silicon Valley research laboratory in Santa Clara, California. The company says the lab will also provide opportunities for collaboration with researchers and students at universities in the region. The company’s 70-acre Silicon Valley Labs plans to focus on R&D involving analog and mixed analog/digital signal circuits. Projects…