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Research team produces ultra-clean MXenes with outstanding electrical performance
The image combines a model derived from a scanning electron microscopy image (left) with a snippet of the underlying crystal structure of a studied MXene featuring precisely controlled surface terminations. @ B. Schröder/HZDR An international team of researchers from TU Dresden, Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics Halle, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and partner institutions across Europe has developed a breakthrough method for producing MXenes – an i
Feb 124 min read
Swiss Nanotech startup Chiral raises €10M to industrialize post-silicon chip production
Chiral , a Swiss nanotechnology company developing manufacturing solutions for next-generation semiconductors and quantum devices, has closed a €10 million ($12 million) seed funding round to scale its nanomaterial integration technology. Crane Venture Partners led the investment, joined by Quantonation, HCVC, and Founderful, alongside public funding from Innosuisse, Switzerland's innovation agency. The ETH Zurich and Empa spin-off is tackling what CEO Seoho Jung describes as
Feb 92 min read
TSMC to produce cutting-edge 3nm chips in Japan as AI demand surges
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has announced plans to manufacture advanced three-nanometer chips at its second fabrication plant in Kumamoto, Japan, marking a significant upgrade from its original production roadmap for the facility. TSMC CEO C.C. Wei delivered the news to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a Thursday meeting in Tokyo, just days before Japan's general election. The announcement represents a strategic shift for the facility, which will n
Feb 93 min read
Sculpting complex, 3D nanostructures with a focused ion beam
Extended Data Fig. 2 Co 3 Sn 2 S 2 helix device fabrication. @ Nature Scientists from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science and colleagues have developed a new way to fabricate three-dimensional nanoscale devices from single-crystal materials using a focused ion beam instrument. The group used this new method to carve helical-shaped devices from a topological magnet composed of cobalt, tin, and sulfur, with a chemical formula of Co₃Sn₂S₂, and found that they behave li
Feb 92 min read
MXene for energy storage: More versatile than expected
Schematic view: In an acidic electrolyte H 2 SO 4 , proton intercalation displaces confined water molecules, protonating the MXene surface, which results in a reduced Titanium oxidation state. © Energy & Environmental Science / HZB In a neutral electrolyte Li 2 SO 4 the interaction of partially desolvated Li⁺ ions and water with the MXene surface results in an increased Titanium oxidation state. The two different chemical behaviours also change the interlayer spacing of the
Feb 93 min read
Focusing and Defocusing Light Without a Lens
Illustration of the spatially structured self-imaging phenomenon known as the Montgomery effect. The color palette corresponds to the phase profile of the light, revealing the helical wavefront of light with orbital angular momentum, re-appearing over propagation. @ Joshua Mornhinweg First demonstration of the structured Montgomery effect in free space Applied physicists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated a new w
Feb 93 min read
Measuring time at the quantum level
© EPFL “The concept of time has troubled philosophers and physicists for thousands of years, and the advent of quantum mechanics has not simplified the problem,” says Professor Hugo Dil, a physicist at EPFL. “The central problem is the general role of time in quantum mechanics, and especially the timescale associated with a quantum transition.” Quantum events, like tunnelling, or an electron changing its state by absorbing a photon, happen at mind‑bending speeds. Some take on
Feb 93 min read
3D-printed metamaterials that stretch and fail by design
Caption:This image of a woven deformable metamaterial was taken with a scanning electron microscope. @Image courtesy of the researchers. New framework supports design and fabrication of compliant materials such as printable textiles and functional foams, letting users predict deformation and material failure. Metamaterials — materials whose properties are primarily dictated by their internal microstructure, and not their chemical makeup — have been redefining the engineering
Feb 93 min read
Watching atoms roam before they decay
The three atoms of the excited NeKr 2 trimer keep roaming around each other for up to one picosecond. © FHI Together with an international team, researchers from the Molecular Physics Department at the Fritz Haber Institute revealed how atoms rearrange themselves before releasing low-energy electrons in a decay process initiated by X-ray irradiation. For the first time, they gain detailed insights into the timing of the process – shedding light on related radiation damage me
Feb 44 min read
Light changes a magnet’s polarity
The researchers used a laser pulse (blue) to change the polarity of a ferromagnetic state in a special material consisting of twisted atomic layers (red). (Visualisation: Enrique Sahagún, Scixel / ETH Zurich, University of Basel) Researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Basel have succeeded in changing the polarity of a special ferromagnet using a laser beam. In the future, this method could be used to create adaptable electronic circuits with light. In a ferroma
Feb 43 min read
Dynamic tuning of Bloch modes in anisotropic phonon polaritonic crystals
Figure | Dynamic tuning of Bloch modes in the α-MoO₃ PoC/graphene device. a , Schematic of an α-MoO 3 PoC/graphene device, consisting of a square periodically perforated α-MoO 3 /graphene heterostructure on a SiO 2 (285 nm)/Si substrate. b Theoretically calculated band structure of the α-MoO 3 PoC as a function of E F at a fixed frequency of 931 cm −1 . The yellow dashed lines indicate the free space light cone. Inset: the first Brillouin zone of the square-type PoC. Cre
Feb 33 min read
UCLA study sets new benchmarks for 3D, atom-by-atom maps of disordered materials
UCLA study sets new benchmarks for 3D, atom-by-atom maps of disordered materials @ UCLA Researchers at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA published a step-by-step framework for determining the three-dimensional positions and elemental identities of atoms in amorphous materials. These solids, such as glass, lack the repeating atomic patterns seen in a crystal. The team analyzed realistically simulated electron-microscope data and tested how each step affected accura
Feb 33 min read
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