This year’s National Apprenticeship Week in the UK runs from 5 to 11 February. The initiative targets all industries and sectors, but for the electronics industry, there is a particular need for programmes that equip apprentices with STEM skills. Among the companies and organisations taking part, there is the STEM Hub, which will be hosting live career talks by STEM ...
University Electronics
The latest electronics news from UK universities
Cambridge GaN Devices gets development deal with PSU maker
Power IC company Cambridge GaN Devices (CGD) has signed a deal to develop power adapters and data centre PSUs with Chicony Power Technology of Taiwan, and Cambridge University Technical Services (CUTS). “Chicony Power is one of the leading SMPS manufacturers in the world, so this agreement represents an incredible milestone in CGD’s journey,” said CGD CEO Giorgia Longobardi. “Chicony Power ...
Scope, logic analyser, waveform generators and more from PC instrument
Powered and operated through a USB Type-C cable, Analog Discovery 3 is a 9MHz (or 30MHz) 125Msample/s 14bit oscilloscope, a logic analyser, an arbitrary waveform generator and more from Digilent. “Analog Discovery 2, AD3’s predecessor, has been used as a learning tool in hundreds of universities, and as a flexible benchtop tool by thousands of professional engineering companies and organisations ...
Interns for innovation
Melexis is encouraging innovation and drawing on the rich pool of local technology graduates at its newly-opened Innovation Lab. Positioned in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel, the Melexis Innovation Lab is the latest addition to the Belgian company’s site in Bevaix, near Geneva. The lab was opened in December 2022 and is a centre for pre-development of sensor technology products ...
Liquid gallium alloy micro-fluidic mm-Wave phase shifter
The proposed shifter uses a half-mode substrate-integrated waveguide, with phase shifted in a via-pad-slot structure where a through via is attached to a pad surrounded by an annular slot. “The phase shifter does not need clean room facilities for fabrication,” said lead researcher Dr Yi Wang, and “the liquid-metal enabled phase shifting elements have a passive nature, unlike active semiconductor-based ...
University of Nottingham starts electric motor consultancy
The University of Nottingham has creates a business unit for the industrialisation of electrical motors and drive systems, claiming that it is the first UK institution to create an independent business unit for the industrialisation of electrical motors and drive systems. Nottingham Drive Specialist Services (NDSS) will provide “bespoke development, manufacturing and testing of electrical motors and drives to support ...
Cardiff University innovation hub opens its doors
The Translational Research Hub (TRH), designed to foster collaboration between industry and scientists, has officially opened at Cardif University. It is the home of the Institute for Compound Semiconductors (ICS) and Cardiff Catalysis Institute (CCI), and was funded by UK and Welsh governments – including £17.3m through UKRPIF, £12m from Welsh Government, £13.1m in European funding administered by WEFO and ...
Robotic finger tip makes human-like ‘nerve’ signals
Researches at the University of Bristol have created an artificial fingertip that produces signals that appear to mimic human touch nerve signal. “We found our 3D-printed tactile fingertip can produce artificial nerve signals that look like recordings from real, tactile neurons,” according to Bristol’s professor of robotics Nathan Lepora. “Human tactile nerves transmit signals from various mechanoreceptors, which can signal ...
Flexible stretchy supercapacitors
The University of Surrey has created a flexible and stretchy supercapacitor “that can be easily integrated into footwear, clothing, and accessories”, it said. Building one involves transferring aligned carbon nanotube arrays from a silicon wafer over to a PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) layer in which they are partly embedded. Polyaniline is then polymerised onto the surface of the nanotubes. In capacitors made from ...
Updated: 500 terabytes of data on a CD, almost
The University of Southampton is storing data onto glass at a density that would squeeze 500Tbyte onto a substrate the size of a CD. Data is written as miniature shapes through the bulk of silica glass using the three spatial dimensions. The shapes have two separate optical characteristics – adding two more dimensions – making this so-called five-dimensional (‘5d’) data storage. ...