a) The big news this month, of course, is that Intel is building "3D" gates that have a vertical fin to allow closer packing. PCmag has a good overview of the technology and the Economist explains the corporate drama surrounding the Intel-ARM war to own the future of micro device processors and the implications of the Trigate technology in that battle. The bottom line is that Trigate will allow low power devices that will extend Moore's law further into the decade. (Not for too long: just 2 years. That gives you an idea of how tough it will be to make hardware for micro machines in the future).
b) RK sent me a link about IBM fellows and Nobel prize winners discussing their scanning tunneling microscope. Now I don't know much about quantum effects, but I always thought they were esoteric theories that were used in nuclear power plants and so on. But the STM is essentially a camera that uses quantum theory to take a picture. Its fascinating stuff, and I decided to look at the history of microscopes in wikipedia, which has a good summary. You should really spend an afternoon and learn about microscopes (as I did), but here are two interesting facts to pique your interest and get you started:
- The use of optical microscopes took off after a heuristic was discovered called the Abbe Sine Law
- Electron microscopes are quite old. The transmission electron microscope was invented in the 30s and the scanning electron microscope in the 60s.
c) The BBC has a cool video about Near Field Communication technology that is converting our phones into e-wallets (not just credit cards, but ID cards and driving licenses too).
d) Here is a useful image sensor blog link by the founder of Advasense. Its a good place to go and search for topics on image sensor hardware, say back-illuminated sensors or whatever it is you are currently thinking about.
e) GE is going to be the first big manufacturing company that will produce products (ultrasound devices) by printing them. (Article from the Economist).
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