Check out this Raspberry Pi-powered LED matrix that shows the current weather across Scotland, by displaying a suitably varied coloured map. Wind, cloud cover, rain and temperature are button-selectable options.

Plasmon-coupled semiconductor surface states can down-convert 1550nm optical wavelengths to terahertz frequencies four-orders of magnitude more efficiently than non-linear optical methods, according to UCLA. When a crystal is a semiconductor – p-doped InAs in this case – the ‘surface states’ created by the left-over bonds that are inevitable on the outside of a crystal lattice can create high gradient electric ...

In the annual report of Beckman Instruments for 1956, Arnold Beckman wrote, “An outstanding example during the past year was the establishment of the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory. Dr.W.Shockley, internationally renowned inventor of the junction transistor, joined the company to carry on basic and applied research in the exciting new field of semiconductors.” Shockley saw the company more as a successor ...

Got a chance to design and print a quick lens holder to try the 16mm separation which I calculate should be the correct spacing for the mounted Cree XP-P led and Gaggione LLC15E that have arrived. DesignSpark Mechanical used (still too far down the learning curve to risk FreeCAD), and I knocked some holes in the side of the model ...

Elon Musk’s five year-old implanted brain chip unit, Neuralink, has raised another $205 million of venture capital. Vy Capital of Dubai led the Series C funding round which was also supported by Google Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Craft Ventures and Founders Fund. Musk has said the first Neuralink product will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind ...

Q2 silicon wafer area shipments increased 6% to 3,534 million square inches beating the record set in Q1 says  SEMI’s Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG). Q2 2021 silicon wafer shipments grew 12% from the 3,152 million square inches recorded during the same quarter last year. “Demand for silicon continues to see strong growth driven by multiple end-applications,” says SEMI’s Neil Weaver, ...

Micron has begun volume shipments of  a 176-layer NAND UF 3.1 mobile memory in 128GB. 256GB and 512GB densities, Engineered for high-end and flagship phones, Micron’s discrete UFS 3.1 mobile NAND unlocks 5G’s potential with up to 75% faster sequential write and random read performance than prior generations, enabling downloads of two-hour 4K movies in as little as 9.6 seconds.  The chip provides 15% ...

Toshiba is in mass production of 12 new motor control MCUs in their M4K group of devices. These will be the first products in the TXZ+ family. Additionally, Toshiba announced that they have started mass production of a further 10 motor control MCUs in their M4M group this month. All of the new devices will be manufactured in a 40nm ...

Having just finished VAXXERS, the book by Professor Sarah Gilbert and Dr Catherine Green on how they designed, made and validated the Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine, it is clear that much needs to be done to produce vaccines quicker. It is not the scientists who take the time. “We designed the vaccine in a few days in January and made the ...

Microchip has announced its first single chip frequency synchroniser for 5G packet switching, which needs ten times more accurately than 4G networks, it said. “Our ZL3073x/63x/64x network synchronisation platform implements measure, calibrate and tune capabilities, significantly reducing network equipment time error to meet the most stringent 5G requirements,” said the company’s v-p of timing components Rami Kanama, who describes it as ...