A new center, called CHiPPS—or the Center for High Precision Patterning Science—led by Berkeley Lab microelectronics expert Ricardo Ruiz, could accelerate the next revolution in microchips, the tiny silicon components used in everything from smartphones to smart speakers, life-saving medical devices, and electric cars. Read more »
Skyrmion Creation and Annihilation Made Simple
Researchers developed a simple approach to writing and deleting skyrmions on demand, using heat and magnetic fields generated by an electrical current, by-products normally considered problematic. The ubiquitous character of these effects, coupled with simplicity of design, offers much-needed scalability and broad applicability. Read more »
Characterization of EUV Optics using Intrinsic Mask Roughness
Researchers developed an in situ computational technique for measuring aberrations in EUV optics, taking advantage of the surface roughness of photomasks used to transfer circuit patterns onto chips. The technique will prove increasingly valuable in the characterization of coherent light sources and beamline optical systems. Read more »
Shape transformation and self-alignment of Fe-based nanoparticles
Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have widespread applications in biotechnology, materials science, engineering, and environmental studies. Thus, much attention has been paid to their controllable synthesis. Three new functions of iron-based nanoparticles are reported: shape transformation, oxidation prevention, and self-alignment. Read more »
Driving Skyrmions Along a Racetrack
Researchers have demonstrated the ability to generate stable skyrmion lattices and to drive trains of individual skyrmions by short current pulses along a magnetic racetrack at speeds exceeding 100 m/s, as required for spintronic applications. Read more »
ALS, Molecular Foundry, and aBeam Technologies Collaborate to Make Metrology History
A collaboration between Bay Area company aBeam Technologies, the ALS, and the Molecular Foundry is bringing cutting-edge metrology instrumentation to the semiconductor market, which will enable a new level of quality control. Read more »
Signal Speed in Nanomagnetic Logic Chains
A time-resolved x-ray imaging technique directly observes signal propagation dynamics in nanomagnetic logic (NML) chains. The technique can assess NML reliability on fast time scales and help optimize chain engineering for this promising ultralow-power computing architecture. Read more »
