Items Tagged With Electronics

Scientists at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory have demonstrated how a single molecule can be switched between two distinct conductive states, which allows it to store data. As published in Small, these experiments show that certain types of molecules reveal intrinsic molecular functionalities that are comparable to devices used in today’s semiconductor technology. This finding is yet another promising result to emerge from IBM’s research labs in their efforts to explore and develop novel technologies for the post-CMOS era.

The International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON) today issued a comprehensive review of existing efforts to develop “best practices” for handling nanomaterials in the workplace. The work was performed by researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) as part of a two-phase project to catalogue how industry is managing the potential occupational safety risks posed by nanomaterials.

By observing events at the scale of single atoms, Cornell researchers have found evidence that the mechanism in high-temperature superconductors may be much more like that in low-temperature superconductors than was previously thought. “This came as a huge shock,” said J.C. Séamus Davis, Cornell professor of physics, who with colleagues reports the findings in the 3 August issue of Nature.

Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with virtually no resistance. The new research may shed light on how superconductivity works in modified copper oxides known as cuprates, which superconduct at the relatively “high” temperature of liquid nitrogen.