Today's state-of-the-art chips have transistors roughly a micrometre in overall length. But this very success has brought the chipmakers to the brink of a steep, new obstacle to further gains in performance

Combining old-fashioned metal-working techniques with modern nanotechnology, engineers at The Johns Hopkins University in the US have produced a form of pure copper metal that is six times stronger than normal with no significant loss of ductility

MIT researchers have combined organic materials with high-performing inorganic nanocrystals to create a hybrid optoelectronic structure

Building a computer chip is a painstaking process. Once a chip is designed, a mask, or template, is created and used to transfer the fine circuit patterns to the surface of a silicon wafer

The battery has the inherent problem of not being able to communicate with the user. Neither weight, colour, nor size provides an indication of the battery's state-of-charge and state-of-health. The user is at the mercy of the battery

Accurate flow measurement impacts process safety, throughput, recipe, quality and cost, affecting bottom line profit or loss. Obtaining accurate flow measurement begins with selecting the best flowmeter technology for the specific application media

The trend to produce printed circuit boards (PCBs) using surface mounting technology (SMT) is becoming increasingly prevalent. One requirement for this technology is the provision of the majority of components built in a suitable way

ETA's 1410 is a single pole press-to-reset thermal circuit breaker with fast overload switching performance (R-type TO CBE to EN 60934). It is available with a single hole threadneck, PCB or integral mounting with a choice of designs. Its miniaturised construction minimises PCB real estate.

BOC's fibre optics solutions group has patented a helium recovery system capable of capturing and recycling more than 85% of the helium used in optical fibre production

By creating superconducting nanowires using carbon nanotube molecules, researchers at the University of Illinois are investigating just how small a wire can become and remain a superconductor

HAL - the thinking, talking computer that ran the spaceship in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey - was a brilliant concept but it now pales into insignificance compared to what is just around the computational corner

Electrical energy from non-rechargeable (primary) batteries is very expensive, and many organisations are switching to rechargeable (secondary) batteries. This article examines the advantages, limitations and economics of primary and secondary batteries

In the active-matrix liquid-crystal displays (AMLCDs)now typically found in laptop computers and an increasing number of monitors, each pixel is driven by an amorphous-silicon transistor that is fabricated directly onto the glass

There are probably hundreds of variations of capacitance sensors in use today, as any quick patent or literature search will quickly reveal

There's probably not a service engineer on the planet that wouldn't agree that intermittent electrical faults are the most difficult to trace. Although these may seem like random disasters, invariably they have a sound physical cause