http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Researchers at Aalto University have developed a purely geometric surface structure that is able to stop and control the spreading of liquids on different types of surfaces. The structure has an undercut edge that works for all types of liquids, irrespective of their surface tension. http://phys.org/news286005505.html Physics Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:10:01 EST news286005505 (Phys.org) —By introducing individual silicon atom 'defects' using a scanning tunnelling microscope, scientists at the London Centre for Nanotechnology have coupled single atoms to form quantum states. http://phys.org/news284207230.html Physics Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:27:32 EST news284207230 Researchers from Technische Universität München have developed a new generation of image sensors that are more sensitive to light than the conventional silicon versions, with the added bonus of being simple and cheap to produce. They consist of electrically conductive plastics, which are sprayed on to the sensor surface in an ultra-thin layer. The chemical composition of the polymer spray coating can be altered so that even the invisible range of the light spectrum can be captured. http://phys.org/news278082866.html Technology Tue, 22 Jan 2013 13:14:34 EST news278082866 Scientists at Aalto University have demonstrated results that show a huge improvement in the light absorption and the surface passivation of silicon nanostructures. This has been achieved by applying atomic layer coating. The results advance the development of devices that require high sensitivity light response such as high efficiency solar cells. http://phys.org/news277714201.html Technology Fri, 18 Jan 2013 06:50:22 EST news277714201 A field full of pyramids, but on a micro scale. Each of the pyramids hides a living cell. Thanks to 3D micro- and nano scale fabrication, promising new applications can be found. One of them is applying the micro pyramids for cell research: thanks to the open 'walls' of the pyramids, the cells interact. Scientists of the research institutes MESA+ and MIRA of the University of Twente in The Netherlands present this new technology and first applications in Small journal of the beginning of December. http://phys.org/news272802407.html Nanotechnology Thu, 22 Nov 2012 10:27:03 EST news272802407 In modern telecommunications, light carries digital information over kilometers within seconds. Adapted optical materials control the light signals. In the Advanced Functional Materials journal, researchers from Berlin, Louvain, and from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology present a method to produce photonic crystals. Their optical properties are adjusted by structures of micrometer size. The method is rapid, cheap, and simple and partly uses the self-organization principle. http://phys.org/news268653642.html Chemistry Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:00:56 EST news268653642 (Phys.org)—Scientists at the University of Twente's MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology have developed a new material that is not only extremely water-repellent but also extremely oil-repellent. It contains minuscule pillars which retain droplets. What makes the material unique is that the droplets stay on top even when they evaporate (slowly getting smaller). This opens the way to such things as smartphone screens that really cannot get dirty. The study appears today in the scientific journal Soft Matter. http://phys.org/news267088695.html Physics Mon, 17 Sep 2012 08:30:01 EST news267088695 Highly purified silicon represents up to 40 percent of the overall costs of conventional solar-cell arrays — so researchers have long sought to maximize power output while minimizing silicon usage. Now, a team at MIT has found a new approach that could reduce the thickness of the silicon used by more than 90 percent while still maintaining high efficiency. http://phys.org/news258788842.html Nanotechnology Wed, 13 Jun 2012 06:47:31 EST news258788842 (PhysOrg.com) -- Almost three years ago a team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) was performing an experiment in which layers of gold mere nanometers (billionths of a meter) thick were being heated on a flat silicon surface and then allowed to cool. They watched in surprise as peculiar features expanded and changed on the screen of their electron microscope, finally settling into circles surrounded by irregular blisters. http://phys.org/news249907905.html Nanotechnology Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:52:00 EST news249907905 Scientists have uncovered how nature minimises energy costs in rings of liquids with an internal nanostructure made of two chemically discordant polymers joined with strong bonds, or di-blocks, deposited on a silicon surface, in an article about to be published in European Physical Journal E. http://phys.org/news243686662.html Nanotechnology Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:00:01 EST news243686662 A research group at the NIMS International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA) has proved that the electrical resistance of a metal single atomic layer on a silicon surface becomes zero by superconductivity. http://phys.org/news241360421.html Physics Thu, 24 Nov 2011 12:34:53 EST news241360421 (PhysOrg.com) -- Taking a giant step forward in the creation and production of graphene based integrated circuits, IBM has announced in Science, the fabrication of a graphene based integrated circuit on a single chip. The demonstration chip, known as a radio frequency "mixer" is capable of producing frequencies up to 10 GHz, and demonstrates that it is possible to overcome the adhesion problems that have stymied researchers efforts in creating graphene based IC's that can be used in analog applications such as cell phones or more likely military communications. http://phys.org/news226913331.html Nanotechnology Fri, 10 Jun 2011 08:29:07 EST news226913331 Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found a way to grow nanolasers directly onto a silicon surface, an achievement that could lead to a new class of faster, more efficient microprocessors, as well as to powerful biochemical sensors that use optoelectronic chips. http://phys.org/news216219966.html Physics Sun, 06 Feb 2011 13:06:21 EST news216219966 Geckos are masters at sticking to surfaces of all kinds and easily unsticking themselves, too. Inspired by these lizards, a team of engineers has developed a reversible adhesion method for printing electronics on a variety of tricky surfaces such as clothes, plastic and leather. http://phys.org/news204219132.html Nanotechnology Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:32:34 EST news204219132 The integration of single-spin magnetoelectronics into standard silicon technology may soon be possible, if experiments confirm a new theoretical prediction by physicists at the Naval Research Laboratory and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. http://phys.org/news202043535.html Physics Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:12:42 EST news202043535 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Rochester's Institute of Optics have discovered a way to make liquid flow vertically upward along a silicon surface, overcoming the pull of gravity, without pumps or other mechanical devices. http://phys.org/news187957690.html Physics Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:28:38 EST news187957690 (PhysOrg.com) -- UT Dallas researchers have laid the groundwork for attaching virtually any organic molecule to silicon, a technological feat that promises to greatly improve semiconductor devices’ performance in health care and solar power applications in particular. http://phys.org/news184442470.html Physics Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:01:30 EST news184442470 A superconducting sheet of lead only two atoms thick, the thinnest superconducting metal layer ever created, has been developed by physicists at The University of Texas at Austin. http://phys.org/news163676931.html Physics Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:49:24 EST news163676931 Using two different types of chemical etching to create features at both the micron and nanometer size scales, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a surface treatment that boosts the light absorption of silicon photovoltaic cells in two complementary ways. http://phys.org/news157137843.html Nanotechnology Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:24:30 EST news157137843