Electroengineering / Microtechnics

Researchers from the University of Twente proved that germanene, a two-dimensional material made of germanium atoms, behaves as a topological insulator. It is the first 2D topological insulator that consists of a single element. It also has the unique ability to switch between 'on' and 'off' states, comparable to transistors. This could lead to more energy-efficient electronics.

The first comprehensive analysis of e-waste in Canada found electronic waste has tripled and is steadily growing New research finds that Canada's electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) has more than tripled in the last two decades, the equivalent of filling the CN tower 110 times and generating close to a million tons in 2020 alone.

May 3, 2023 New material converts vibrations into electricity  In a world hungry for clean energy, engineers have created a new material that converts the simple mechanical vibrations all around us into electricity to power sensors in everything from pacemakers to spacecraft.

The plan will keep Voyager 2's science instruments turned on a few years longer than previously anticipated, enabling yet more revelations from interstellar space.

Researchers demonstrate a low-power "wake-up" receiver one-tenth the size of other devices.

Thanks to a breakthrough in the field of magnonics, researchers have sent and stored data using charge-free magnetic waves, rather than traditional electron flows. The discovery could solve the dilemma of energy-hungry computing technology in the age of big data.

Tiny tips on cantilevers are used to scan a surface in an atomic force microscope. A new invention from TU Wien now provides a simpler way to measure the result.

The Technische Universität Ilmenau, together with research partners, has developed a microphone inspired by biology that picks up sound similar to the human ear.

This doesn't happen often: For his final project, an electronics apprentice at ETH Zurich produced a test device that will save physicists a lot of time in developing a novel microscope. His work has been published in a scientific journal.

The device, which uses electricity to boost hormone production in the stomach, could help to ease nausea and counteract appetite loss.

Simulating solar flares on a scale the size of a banana, researchers at Caltech have parsed out the process by which these massive explosions blast potentially harmful energetic particles and X-rays into the cosmos.

Tiny structures made of gold can be specifically manipulated by ion bombardment at TU Wien (Vienna) - surprisingly, the decisive factor is not the force of the impact.