‘Baseload’ solar power, once a distant dream, is now claimed to be a reality. While solar electricity was once limited to when the sun was shining, solar thermal energy can now operate 24 hours a day, even at night, with an ingenious and cheap storage method using molten salt.

The wind power and electric vehicle markets today require power modules with high power density, high reliability and mechanical, thermal and electrical ruggedness. These requirements are best met by solder-free pressure contact technology. In a next step, wire bonds will be replaced by a flex foil to overcome today’s limitations on power cycling fatigue.

Monash University researchers are at the forefront of efforts to develop a new generation of solar cells that are lighter, cheaper and able to be embedded in future roofing materials.

In RF testing, an essential attribute of every RF signal generator is the maximum output power it can supply to a device under test (DUT) while maintaining spectral purity and level accuracy. The ability to deliver a pure, accurate signal at +25 dBm or greater not only ensures improved measurement accuracy but also enables testing of extreme or unusual operating conditions.

Power supplies can be found in many different electronic devices, from children’s toys to computers and office equipment to industrial equipment. They are used to convert electrical power from one form to another for proper device operation. Common examples are AC-to-DC converters which change AC voltages into regulated DC voltages or DC-to-DC converters which convert battery power into required voltage levels.

In an effort to make graphene more useful in electronics applications, Kansas State University engineers made a discovery - gold ‘snowflakes’ on graphene.

Imec has made hollow, out-of-plane microneedles with a height of 1540 µm and an aspect ratio exceeding 100. The needles are made from a polymer (SU-8) and the process is repeatable.

According to a report from CIR, US market analysts, the market for 40/100 GigE transceivers will reach $640 million in revenue by 2014, with about two-thirds coming from 40 GigE products.

Britain’s first nearshore wave energy converter has moved another step closer to generating clean, green energy.

For the designer tasked with the development of a telematics platform or any other GPS-based application, there are many detailed options to evaluate. Also for management, there are important longer-term strategic and financial implications to carefully consider.

One of the most remarkable and novel discoveries in the last 400 years has been electricity. One may ask, “Has electricity been around that long?” The answer is yes, and perhaps much longer, but the practical use of electricity has only been at our disposal since the mid- to late-1800s and, at first, in a limited way.

A technology for stacking several layers of microprocesssors, which is being developed at EPFL in collaboration with ETHZ and IBM Research, could boost the performance of computer chips by a factor 10.

The ultra-small revolution is claimed to have begun with the invention of a laser that allows light to be used on a computer chip.

Converting sunlight to electricity might no longer mean large panels of photovoltaic cells atop flat surfaces like roofs.

Telecoms, healthcare and display technology will be the major beneficiaries of a new generation of semiconductor lasers developed in a massive European research effort. Better cancer treatment, wider bandwidth and smaller, better displays could be on their way.