探花直播 of Cambridge - Gehan Amaratunga /taxonomy/people/gehan-amaratunga en Smart lighting system based on quantum dots more accurately reproduces daylight /research/news/smart-lighting-system-based-on-quantum-dots-more-accurately-reproduces-daylight <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/research/news/gettyimages-1182259805-crop.jpg?itok=de0H43VQ" alt="Long exposure light painting" title="Long exposure light painting , Credit: Yaorusheng via Getty Images" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p> 探花直播researchers, from the 探花直播 of Cambridge, designed the next-generation smart lighting system using a combination of nanotechnology, colour science, advanced computational methods, electronics and a unique fabrication process.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播team found that by using more than the three primary lighting colours used in typical LEDs, they were able to reproduce daylight more accurately. Early tests of the new design showed excellent colour rendering, a wider operating range than current smart lighting technology, and wider spectrum of white light customisation. 探花直播<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31853-9">results</a> are reported in the journal <em>Nature Communications</em>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As the availability and characteristics of ambient light are connected with wellbeing, the widespread availability of smart lighting systems can have a positive effect on human health since these systems can respond to individual mood. Smart lighting can also respond to circadian rhythms, which regulate the daily sleep-wake cycle, so that light is reddish-white in the morning and evening, and bluish-white during the day.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>When a room has sufficient natural or artificial light, good glare control, and views of the outdoors, it is said to have good levels of visual comfort. In indoor environments under artificial light, visual comfort depends on how accurately colours are rendered. Since the colour of objects is determined by illumination, smart white lighting needs to be able to accurately express the colour of surrounding objects. Current technology achieves this by using three different colours of light simultaneously.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Quantum dots have been studied and developed as light sources since the 1990s, due to their high colour tunability and colour purity. Due their unique optoelectronic properties, they show excellent colour performance in both wide colour controllability and high colour rendering capability.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播Cambridge researchers developed an architecture for quantum-dot light-emitting diodes (QD-LED) based next-generation smart white lighting. They combined system-level colour optimisation, device-level optoelectronic simulation, and material-level parameter extraction.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播researchers produced a computational design framework from a colour optimisation algorithm used for neural networks in machine learning, together with a new method for charge transport and light emission modelling.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播QD-LED system uses multiple primary colours 鈥 beyond the commonly used red, green and blue 鈥 to more accurately mimic white light. By choosing quantum dots of a specific size 鈥 between three and 30 nanometres in diameter 鈥 the researchers were able to overcome some of the practical limitations of LEDs and achieve the emission wavelengths they needed to test their predictions.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播team then validated their design by creating a new device architecture of QD-LED based white lighting. 探花直播test showed excellent colour rendering, a wider operating range than current technology, and a wide spectrum of white light shade customisation.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播Cambridge-developed QD-LED system showed a correlated colour temperature (CCT) range from 2243K (reddish) to 9207K (bright midday sun), compared with current LED-based smart lights which have a CCT between 2200K and 6500K. 探花直播colour rendering index (CRI) 鈥 a measure of colours illuminated by the light in comparison to daylight (CRI=100) 鈥 of the QD-LED system was 97, compared to current smart bulb ranges, which are between 80 and 91.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播design could pave the way to more efficient, more accurate smart lighting. In an LED smart bulb, the three LEDs must be controlled individually to achieve a given colour. In the QD-LED system, all the quantum dots are driven by a single common control voltage to achieve the full colour temperature range.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>鈥淭his is a world-first: a fully optimised, high-performance quantum-dot-based smart white lighting system,鈥 said <a href="https://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/profiles/jmk71">Professor Jong Min Kim</a> from Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Engineering, who co-led the research. 鈥淭his is the first milestone toward the full exploitation of quantum-dot-based smart white lighting for daily applications.鈥</p>&#13; &#13; <p>鈥 探花直播ability to better reproduce daylight through its varying colour spectrum dynamically in a single light is what we aimed for,鈥 said <a href="https://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/profiles/gaja1">Professor Gehan Amaratunga</a>, who co-led the research. 鈥淲e achieved it in a new way through using quantum dots. This research opens the way for a wide variety of new human responsive lighting environments.鈥</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播structure of the QD-LED white lighting developed by the Cambridge team is scalable to large area lighting surfaces, as it is made with a printing process and its control and drive is similar to that in a display. With standard point source LEDs requiring individual control this is a more complex task.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播research was supported in part by the European Union and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>聽</p>&#13; &#13; <p><em><strong>Reference:</strong><br />&#13; Chatura Samarakoon et al. 鈥<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31853-9">Optoelectronic System and Device Integration for Quantum-Dot Light-Emitting Diode White Lighting with Computational Design Framework</a>.鈥 Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31853-9</em></p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>Researchers have designed smart, colour-controllable white light devices from quantum dots 鈥 tiny semiconductors just a few billionths of a metre in size 鈥 which are more efficient and have better colour saturation than standard LEDs, and can dynamically reproduce daylight conditions in a single light.</p>&#13; </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">This research opens the way for a wide variety of new human-responsive lighting environments</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote-name field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Gehan Amaratunga</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-credit field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/long-exposure-light-painting-photography-curvy-royalty-free-image/1182259805?adppopup=true" target="_blank">Yaorusheng via Getty Images</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-desctiprion field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Long exposure light painting </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" style="border-width:0" /></a><br />&#13; 探花直播text in this work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏 探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.聽 All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥 as here, on our <a href="/">main website</a> under its <a href="/about-this-site/terms-and-conditions">Terms and conditions</a>, and on a <a href="/about-this-site/connect-with-us">range of channels including social media</a> that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.</p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div> Wed, 03 Aug 2022 09:00:00 +0000 sc604 233631 at Cambridge joins international partners in Singapore as country's flagship research programme celebrates 10th anniversary /news/cambridge-joins-international-partners-in-singapore-as-countrys-flagship-research-programme <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/news/create.jpg?itok=MAEBloya" alt="" title="Credit: CREATE tower, Singapore" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p> 探花直播Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) was established in 2007, with funding from Singapore鈥檚 National Research Foundation (NRF), to allow research-intensive institutions from all over the world to set up research centres in Singapore and establish research partnerships with local universities.</p> <p>Today, CREATE supports collaborations between four Singaporean universities 鈥 the National 探花直播 of Singapore (NUS), the Nanyang Technological 探花直播 (NTU), the Singapore 探花直播 of Technology and Design (SUTD) and the Singapore Management 探花直播 (SMU) 鈥 and seven international partners 鈥 ETH Zurich, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Technical 探花直播 of Munich, Hebrew 探花直播 of Jerusalem, 探花直播 of California, Berkeley, Shanghai Jiao Tong 探花直播 and the 探花直播 of Cambridge.</p> <p>To mark its 10th聽anniversary, CREATE held an international symposium attended by university leaders as well as Singapore's former president, Dr Tony Tan.</p> <p>Speaking at the聽event on 1 December,聽Mr Heng Swee Keat, Singapore鈥檚 Minister for Finance and Deputy Chairman of the NRF said:</p> <p>鈥淲e designed CREATE to encourage interaction not just across a range of disciplines and cultures, but also of perspectives 鈥 from dreamers to researchers, designers and users 鈥 thereby fuelling exchanges between the spheres of research and innovation.鈥</p> <p>鈥淏y bringing together researchers, policy makers and end users, CREATE enables serendipitous interactions and discovery. It creates a research environment that is richer than the sum of its parts, allowing researchers to innovate and provide solutions to real world problems.鈥</p> <p>鈥淭oday,鈥 he added, 鈥淐REATE is an international research hub, built on strong institutional partnerships, involving almost 1,100 people from over 40 countries. CREATE鈥檚 projects are relevant to Singapore and impactful on the global level.鈥</p> <h2>CARES: a hub for research collaboration</h2> <p> 探花直播Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (CARES), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the 探花直播 of Cambridge, was set up as one of CREATE鈥檚 collaborative initiatives in April 2013. It hosts a number of research collaborations between the 探花直播 of Cambridge, NTU, NUS and industrial partners in Singapore and elsewhere.</p> <p>Representing CARES at the event, its Director, Prof. Markus Kraft, explained: 鈥淐ARES creates and fosters cutting-edge science in the area of energy efficiency in chemical technologies.聽We want to do first class research, world-leading research. We want to understand the world better. And we want to contribute to some of the pressing problems facing mankind 鈥 in particular, global warming."</p> <p>Prof. Gehan Amaratunga, Professor of Engineering at the 探花直播 of Cambridge, was involved in CARES from its inception: 鈥淐ARES is driven by the Cambridge attitude to research: to think about things deeply, and to deliver results that are significant and worthwhile. But that is coupled with the Singapore culture of hard work, and results-driven research. 探花直播mixture of those two research cultures under the CARES umbrella generates a unique symbiosis.鈥</p> <p>He adds: 鈥淚t is worth noting that CARES was the first time that the 探花直播 of Cambridge had established anything under its name outside of Cambridge. 探花直播Singaporean government has put resources into research, and is keen for international researchers to come and work in Singapore. From the Cambridge perspective, it gives us an opportunity to globalise our research by engaging in a location that is an Asian hub, directly in between Asia鈥檚 two largest population centres 鈥 India and China. Singapore is a melting pot where researchers from the entire region are present. 探花直播impact of what we do in Singapore will be felt all over Asia.鈥</p> <h2>Reducing carbon footprint and energy demand</h2> <p>CARES鈥 first research programme聽is聽the聽Cambridge Centre for Carbon Reduction in Chemical Technology (C4T), a partnership between Cambridge and Singapore set up in 2013 to tackle the problem of assessing and reducing the carbon footprint of the petrochemical plants and electrical network on Singapore鈥檚 Jurong Island. Since its inception, it has brought together researchers in fields including Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Information Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Materials Science and Metallurgy.</p> <p>Lowering the cost聽of CO鈧偮燾apture and developing technologies for waste heat utilisation have been among the main drivers for C4T鈥檚 research. It addresses the problem of carbon abatement in chemical technologies though Interdisciplinary Research Programmes that combine state-of-the-art experimental analysis with advanced modelling research.</p> <p>Speaking at CREATE鈥檚 10th anniversary event in Singapore, Dr聽Lim聽Mei Qi, Project Officer for CARES, explained: 鈥淐4T proposes ways of reducing the carbon footprint聽of Singapore while supporting economic growth. To build upon CARES鈥 early success we will continue to engage with Singapore's stakeholders, including government agencies, policymakers, and academic and industrial research organisations. We hope, by doing so, to positively contribute to Singapore鈥檚 ratification of the Paris Agreement on climate change.鈥</p> <h2>A laboratory built from scratch 鈥 via Skype</h2> <p>Dr Jethro Akroyd, Senior Research Associate in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology鈥檚 Computational Modelling Group,聽worked on the design of聽the CARES laboratory in Singapore.</p> <p>Today he spends most of his time supervising CARES students based in Cambridge, but he remembers the early challenges of designing lab space remotely: 鈥淲e communicated with the architects and our external consultant in Singapore via Skype. We often had Skype meetings at聽5:30聽in the morning 鈥 the only time people were available both in Singapore and in Cambridge. Those were long days.鈥</p> <p>鈥淥ne of the biggest difficulties was explaining to people in Singapore what was required in the laboratories in order to deliver flexible research space. And even once we figured out what we wanted, we had to work out how to fit this into the physical constraints of the space that was available at CREATE. Imagine sitting in a small, cold room on a dark Cambridge morning trying to explain complicated ideas to a team on the other side of the world who can only see you via a video link.鈥</p> <p>鈥淲e built up a very successful working relationship with the consultant and the architects. This culminated in my first visit to Singapore, during the design process, when we had our first face-to-face meeting as a team. That was very special.鈥</p> <p>鈥淚t鈥檚 been great to see designs you worked out on paper in reality, and you can see how the research space was going to be used in order to understand the fundamental combustion and pollutant formation processes that are really at the heart of our role in the research project.鈥</p> <p>In June 2017, the CARES C4T Laboratory was awarded the BCA Green Mark for Laboratories Platinum Award, in recognition of its sustainable efforts and commitment to reduce the environmental impact of lab operations.</p> <h2>An industrial park simulator</h2> <p>CARES C4T鈥檚 flagship project聽is the J-Park Simulator (JPS) 鈥 a tool for the design, analysis and operation optimisation of eco-industrial parks developed聽by C4T researchers. It aims to allow sector agencies, industry and infrastructure providers to model the impact of different 鈥渨hat-if鈥 scenarios in real time. 探花直播simulator is able to analyse different scenarios affecting chemical processes, electricity grid and building management to provide the visual information needed to support optimisation, decision-making and scenario analysis.</p> <p>鈥淚n order to reach an optimum symbiotic relationship among industries and networks, all resources need to be taken into consideration simultaneously 鈥 this is the idea behind J-Park Simulator," explained Dr聽Lim.</p> <h2>Split-site PhD</h2> <p>Another successful initiative has been聽the聽Cambridge-CARES聽studentship聽programme, which allows Cambridge PhD students to spend two years based in Singapore with the C4T team.</p> <p>Jacob Martin is a third-year PhD student at CARES currently doing research into how to stop soot from forming in engines.</p> <p>鈥淪omething that I like about CARES is being able to work with a lot of different people from different universities. Because we are physically located within the CREATE tower, it is easier to interact with other universities and do a lot of research with other interest groups. And because we have access to NUS鈥 equipment, we can expand what we are doing in Cambridge. 探花直播availability of resources has been a real selling point for the programme.鈥</p> <p>He cites the Visiting Scientists scheme as helping to establish international research connections. This invitation-only programme attracts eminent professors from around the globe, such as聽Emeritus Professor Karl Johan 脜str枚m from the Department of Automatic Control, LTH, Lund 探花直播, to聽stay and work with C4T researchers in Singapore for a few weeks.</p> <p>Jacob hopes that his research will lead to new technologies to reduce pollution from diesel engines, which has an impact on climate as well as on human health.</p> <p>鈥淚t always helps to have more connections in research. Being at CARES will definitely be helpful to establish collaborations not only in Asia but also with universities in America. There are many benefits to collaboration. You can achieve a lot more. 探花直播more minds you put to a problem, the faster you can solve it.鈥</p> <p>He adds: 鈥淗aving people with different cultural backgrounds allows for new and interesting solutions to problems. Cambridge has a particular way of dealing with problems 鈥撀爁ocus, focus, focus, and really nail the fundamentals. Sometimes that means you lose a bit of perspective. Something that鈥檚 been really good about collaborating with people in Singapore is that it鈥檚 less about the minutiae and more about the big picture. Singapore is facing a lot of big problems to do with climate change, energy, water. It鈥檚 small enough that you can make big changes, and use it as a model for other cities all over the world.鈥</p> <h2>Teaming up</h2> <p>CREATE makes this collaboration possible by supporting projects through the聽Intra-CREATE programme. A recent example is the three-year project involving researchers from the 探花直播 of Cambridge, the 探花直播 of California, Berkeley, the National 探花直播 of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological 探花直播 (NTU), which was recently awarded SGD$5m (拢2.8m) by Singapore鈥檚 National Research Foundation.</p> <p> 探花直播project, which will start in January 2018, seeks to develop ways of transforming carbon dioxide (CO鈧) emitted as part of the industrial process into compounds that are useful in the chemical industry supply chain. It will be co-led by Prof. Alexei Lapkin ( 探花直播 of Cambridge/CARES) and Prof. Joel Ager (UC-Berkeley and聽Berkeley Education Alliance for Research in Singapore (BEARS Ltd)).</p> <h2>Looking ahead</h2> <p>After a successful start, CARES is now taking stock of the knowledge created over the past four years and planning for its next phase.</p> <p>Prof Markus Kraft (CARES' Director) commented: 鈥淲e have identified opportunities to save over eight million tonnes of CO鈧偮爌er year for Singapore 鈥 this is about 20% of their annual emissions. 探花直播idea of聽C4T Phase 2 is聽to take this forward. At the core of the proposal for聽C4T聽Phase聽Two is to look at ideas generated in聽Phase聽One, take them much closer to the market and let them be adopted by industry.鈥</p> <p>鈥淥ne of the ideas we developed in聽Phase聽One was to blend biodiesel with diesel fuel for road transport. We鈥檝e shown this can save about one million tonnes per year of CO鈧偮爁or Singapore. What we鈥檙e now looking at in聽Phase聽Two is whether we can do anything similar for marine shipping traffic. This has the potential to save something like another one million tonnes of CO鈧偮爄n Singapore, but it also has the potential to be adopted worldwide. This could have a much broader global impact, far beyond just the shipping in Singapore Strait.鈥</p> <p><em>For further information on CARES and the C4T research programme please contact Ms Louise Renwick, CARES Communications and External Affairs Executive, <a href="mailto:caresco@hermes.cam.ac.uk">caresco@hermes.cam.ac.uk</a>,; Tel: +6566015447聽</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>An international symposium at Singapore鈥檚 CREATE campus highlights the global challenges of sustainable energy and suggests innovative ways of reducing industry鈥檚 carbon footprint聽</p> </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">We want to do first-class research. We want to understand the world better. And we want to contribute to some of the pressing problems facing mankind 鈥 in particular, global warming.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote-name field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> Markus Kraft, Director of CARES</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-credit field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/" target="_blank">CREATE tower, Singapore</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-slideshow field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/sites/default/files/img_9728.jpg" title="In June 2017 CARES C4T Laboratory was awarded the BCA Green Mark for Laboratories Platinum Award. 探花直播new program, called the BCA Green Mark for Laboratories, recognizes the sustainable efforts and commitment of laboratory owners and operators to reduce the environmental impact of lab operations. It also complements the BCA Green Mark for Buildings program by encouraging laboratory operators to adopt best practices and optimize the operations of laboratory equipment and systems, while addressing the safety requirements for laboratories." class="colorbox" data-colorbox-gallery="" data-cbox-img-attrs="{&quot;title&quot;: &quot;In June 2017 CARES C4T Laboratory was awarded the BCA Green Mark for Laboratories Platinum Award. 探花直播new program, called the BCA Green Mark for Laboratories, recognizes the sustainable efforts and commitment of laboratory owners and operators to reduce the environmental impact of lab operations. It also complements the BCA Green Mark for Buildings program by encouraging laboratory operators to adopt best practices and optimize the operations of laboratory equipment and systems, while addressing the safety requirements for laboratories.&quot;, &quot;alt&quot;: &quot;&quot;}"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/slideshow/public/img_9728.jpg?itok=wybpAnPv" width="590" height="288" alt="" title="In June 2017 CARES C4T Laboratory was awarded the BCA Green Mark for Laboratories Platinum Award. 探花直播new program, called the BCA Green Mark for Laboratories, recognizes the sustainable efforts and commitment of laboratory owners and operators to reduce the environmental impact of lab operations. It also complements the BCA Green Mark for Buildings program by encouraging laboratory operators to adopt best practices and optimize the operations of laboratory equipment and systems, while addressing the safety requirements for laboratories." /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" style="border-width:0" /></a><br /> 探花直播text in this work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>. For image use please see separate credits above.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div> Tue, 23 Jan 2018 09:50:51 +0000 ag236 194072 at Engineers design ultralow power transistors that could function for years without a battery /research/news/engineers-design-ultralow-power-transistors-that-could-function-for-years-without-a-battery <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/research/news/crop_15.jpg?itok=hDcurdQH" alt="Transistors" title="Transistors, Credit: Recklessstudios/Public Domain" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>A newly-developed form of transistor opens up a range of new electronic applications including wearable or implantable devices by drastically reducing the amount of power used. Devices based on this type of ultralow power transistor, developed by engineers at the 探花直播 of Cambridge, could function for months or even years without a battery by 鈥榮cavenging鈥 energy from their environment.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Using a similar principle to a computer in sleep mode, the new transistor harnesses a tiny 鈥榣eakage鈥 of electrical current, known as a near-off-state current, for its operations. This leak, like water dripping from a faulty tap, is a characteristic of all transistors, but this is the first time that it has been effectively captured and used functionally. 探花直播<a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5035">results</a>, reported in the journal <em>Science</em>, open up new avenues for system design for the Internet of Things, in which most of the things we interact with every day are connected to the Internet.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播transistors can be produced at low temperatures and can be printed on almost any material, from glass and plastic to polyester and paper. They are based on a unique geometry which uses a 鈥榥on-desirable鈥 characteristic, namely the point of contact between the metal and semiconducting components of a transistor, a so-called 鈥楽chottky barrier.鈥</p>&#13; &#13; <p>鈥淲e鈥檙e challenging conventional perception of how a transistor should be,鈥 said Professor Arokia Nathan of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Engineering, the paper鈥檚 co-author. 鈥淲e鈥檝e found that these Schottky barriers, which most engineers try to avoid, actually have the ideal characteristics for the type of ultralow power applications we鈥檙e looking at, such as wearable or implantable electronics for health monitoring.鈥</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播new design gets around one of the main issues preventing the development of ultralow power transistors, namely the ability to produce them at very small sizes. As transistors get smaller, their two electrodes start to influence the behaviour of one another, and the voltages spread, meaning that below a certain size, transistors fail to function as desired. By changing the design of the transistors, the Cambridge researchers were able to use the Schottky barriers to keep the electrodes independent from one another, so that the transistors can be scaled down to very small geometries.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播design also achieves a very high level of gain, or signal amplification. 探花直播transistor鈥檚 operating voltage is less than a volt, with power consumption below a billionth of a watt. This ultralow power consumption makes them most suitable for applications where function is more important than speed, which is the essence of the Internet of Things.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>鈥淚f we were to draw energy from a typical AA battery based on this design, it would last for a billion years,鈥 said Dr Sungsik Lee, the paper鈥檚 first author, also from the Department of Engineering. 鈥淯sing the Schottky barrier allows us to keep the electrodes from interfering with each other in order to amplify the amplitude of the signal even at the state where the transistor is almost switched off.鈥</p>&#13; &#13; <p><img alt="" src="/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/inner-images/tech-image-crop.jpg" style="width: 590px; height: 288px;" /></p>&#13; &#13; <p>鈥淭his will bring about a new design model for ultralow power sensor interfaces and analogue signal processing in wearable and implantable devices, all of which are critical for the Internet of Things,鈥 said Nathan.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>鈥淭his is an ingenious transistor concept,鈥 said Professor Gehan Amaratunga, Head of the Electronics, Power and Energy Conversion Group at Cambridge鈥檚 Engineering Department. 鈥淭his type of ultra-low power operation is a pre-requisite for many of the new ubiquitous electronics applications, where what matters is function 鈥 in essence 鈥榠ntelligence鈥 鈥 without the demand for speed. In such applications the possibility of having totally autonomous electronics now becomes a possibility. 探花直播system can rely on harvesting background energy from the environment for very long term operation, which is akin to organisms such as bacteria in biology.鈥</p>&#13; &#13; <p><strong><em>Reference</em></strong><strong><em>:</em></strong><br /><em>S. Lee and A. Nathan, 鈥<a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5035" target="_blank">Subthreshold Schottky-barrier thin film transistors with ultralow power and high intrinsic gain</a>鈥. Science (2016). DOI: 10.1126/science.aah5035</em></p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>A new design for transistors which operate on 鈥榮cavenged鈥 energy from their environment could form the basis for devices which function for months or years without a battery, and could be used for wearable or implantable electronics.</p>&#13; </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">If we were to draw energy from a typical AA battery based on this design, it would last for a billion years.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote-name field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Sungsik Lee</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-credit field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="https://pixabay.com/p-1137503/?no_redirect" target="_blank">Recklessstudios/Public Domain</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-desctiprion field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Transistors</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" style="border-width:0" /></a><br />&#13; 探花直播text in this work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>. For image use please see separate credits above.</p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div> Thu, 20 Oct 2016 18:00:00 +0000 sc604 180132 at New understanding of electromagnetism could enable 鈥榓ntennas on a chip鈥 /research/news/new-understanding-of-electromagnetism-could-enable-antennas-on-a-chip <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/research/news/150323-microantenna.jpg?itok=XJkbBYkd" alt=" 探花直播radiation pattern from a dipole antenna showing symmetry breaking of the electric field" title=" 探花直播radiation pattern from a dipole antenna showing symmetry breaking of the electric field, Credit: Generated using Mathematica from Wolfram Inc" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>A team of researchers from the 探花直播 of Cambridge have unravelled one of the mysteries of electromagnetism, which could enable the design of antennas small enough to be integrated into an electronic chip. These ultra-small antennas 鈥 the so-called 鈥榣ast frontier鈥 of semiconductor design 鈥 would be a massive leap forward for wireless communications.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In new <a href="https://journals.aps.org:443/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.147701" target="_blank">results</a> published in the journal <em>Physical Review Letters</em>, the researchers have proposed that electromagnetic waves are generated not only from the acceleration of electrons, but also from a phenomenon known as symmetry breaking. In addition to the implications for wireless communications, the discovery could help identify the points where theories of classical electromagnetism and quantum mechanics overlap.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播phenomenon of radiation due to electron acceleration, first identified more than a century ago, has no counterpart in quantum mechanics, where electrons are assumed to jump from higher to lower energy states. These new observations of radiation resulting from broken symmetry of the electric field may provide some link between the two fields.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播purpose of any antenna, whether in a communications tower or a mobile phone, is to launch energy into free space in the form of electromagnetic or radio waves, and to collect energy from free space to feed into the device. One of the biggest problems in modern electronics, however, is that antennas are still quite big and incompatible with electronic circuits 鈥 which are ultra-small and getting smaller all the time.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>鈥淎ntennas, or aerials, are one of the limiting factors when trying to make smaller and smaller systems, since below a certain size, the losses become too great,鈥 said Professor Gehan Amaratunga of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Engineering, who led the research. 鈥淎n aerial鈥檚 size is determined by the wavelength associated with the transmission frequency of the application, and in most cases it鈥檚 a matter of finding a compromise between aerial size and the characteristics required for that application.鈥</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Another challenge with aerials is that certain physical variables associated with radiation of energy are not well understood. For example, there is still no well-defined mathematical model related to the operation of a practical aerial. Most of what we know about electromagnetic radiation comes from theories first proposed by James Clerk Maxwell in the 19th century, which state that electromagnetic radiation is generated by accelerating electrons.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>However, this theory becomes problematic when dealing with radio wave emission from a dielectric solid, a material which normally acts as an insulator, meaning that electrons are not free to move around. Despite this, dielectric resonators are already used as antennas in mobile phones, for example.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>鈥淚n dielectric aerials, the medium has high permittivity, meaning that the velocity of the radio wave decreases as it enters the medium,鈥 said Dr Dhiraj Sinha, the paper鈥檚 lead author. 鈥淲hat hasn鈥檛 been known is how the dielectric medium results in emission of electromagnetic waves. This mystery has puzzled scientists and engineers for more than 60 years.鈥</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Working with researchers from the National Physical Laboratory and Cambridge-based dielectric antenna company Antenova Ltd, the Cambridge team used thin films of piezoelectric materials, a type of insulator which is deformed or vibrated when voltage is applied. They found that at a certain frequency, these materials become not only efficient resonators, but efficient radiators as well, meaning that they can be used as aerials.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播researchers determined that the reason for this phenomenon is due to symmetry breaking of the electric field associated with the electron acceleration. In physics, symmetry is an indication of a constant feature of a particular aspect in a given system. When electronic charges are not in motion, there is symmetry of the electric field.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Symmetry breaking can also apply in cases such as a pair of parallel wires in which electrons can be accelerated by applying an oscillating electric field. 鈥淚n aerials, the symmetry of the electric field is broken 鈥榚xplicitly鈥 which leads to a pattern of electric field lines radiating out from a transmitter, such as a two wire system in which the parallel geometry is 鈥榖roken鈥,鈥 said Sinha.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播researchers found that by subjecting the piezoelectric thin films to an asymmetric excitation, the symmetry of the system is similarly broken, resulting in a corresponding symmetry breaking of the electric field, and the generation of electromagnetic radiation.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播electromagnetic radiation emitted from dielectric materials is due to accelerating electrons on the metallic electrodes attached to them, as Maxwell predicted, coupled with explicit symmetry breaking of the electric field.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>鈥淚f you want to use these materials to transmit energy, you have to break the symmetry as well as have accelerating electrons 鈥 this is the missing piece of the puzzle of electromagnetic theory,鈥 said Amaratunga. 鈥淚鈥檓 not suggesting we鈥檝e come up with some grand unified theory, but these results will aid understanding of how electromagnetism and quantum mechanics cross over and join up. It opens up a whole set of possibilities to explore.鈥</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播future applications for this discovery are important, not just for the mobile technology we use every day, but will also aid in the development and implementation of the Internet of Things: ubiquitous computing where almost everything in our homes and offices, from toasters to thermostats, is connected to the internet. For these applications, billions of devices are required, and the ability to fit an ultra-small aerial on an electronic chip would be a massive leap forward.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Piezoelectric materials can be made in thin film forms using materials such as lithium niobate, gallium nitride and gallium arsenide. Gallium arsenide-based amplifiers and filters are already available on the market and this new discovery opens up new ways of integrating antennas on a chip along with other components.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>鈥淚t鈥檚 actually a very simple thing, when you boil it down,鈥 said Sinha. 鈥淲e鈥檝e achieved a real application breakthrough, having gained an understanding of how these devices work.鈥</p>&#13; &#13; <p> 探花直播research has been supported in part by the Nokia Research Centre, the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust and the Wingate Foundation. Additional support was provided through the East of England Development Agency, Cambridge 探花直播 Entrepreneurs, and investment from Cambridge Angels.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Reference:聽Dhiraj Sinha &amp; Gehan Amaratunga, Electromagnetic Radiation Under Explicit symmetry Breaking, Physical Review Letters, 114, 147701 (2015)</em></p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>New understanding of the nature of electromagnetism could lead to antennas small enough to fit on computer chips 鈥 the 鈥榣ast frontier鈥 of semiconductor design 鈥 and could help identify the points where theories of classical electromagnetism and quantum mechanics overlap.</p>&#13; </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">This is the missing piece of the puzzle of electromagnetic theory</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote-name field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Gehan Amaratunga</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-credit field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/" target="_blank">Generated using Mathematica from Wolfram Inc</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-desctiprion field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> 探花直播radiation pattern from a dipole antenna showing symmetry breaking of the electric field</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" style="border-width:0" /></a><br />&#13; 探花直播text in this work is licensed under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>. For image use please see separate credits above.</p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div> Wed, 08 Apr 2015 23:01:03 +0000 sc604 149132 at