Researchers Find Better Way to Manufacture Fast Computer Chips
By Pam Frost Gorder
“Graphene has huge potential -- it’s been dubbed ‘the new silicon,’” said Padture, who is also director of Ohio State’s Center for Emergent Materials.
Engineers at Ohio State University are developing a technique for mass producing computer chips made from the same material found in pencils.
Experts believe that graphene — the sheet-like form of carbon found in graphite pencils — holds the key to smaller, faster electronics. It might also deliver quantum mechanical effects that could enable new kinds of electronics.
Until now, most researchers could only create tiny graphene devices one at a time, and only on traditional silicon oxide substrates. They couldn’t control where they placed the devices on the substrate, and had to connect them to other electronics one at a time for testing.
In a paper published in the March 26 issue of the journal Advanced Materials, Nitin Padture and his colleagues describe a technique for stamping many graphene sheets onto a substrate at once, in precise locations. (more…)
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‘Alarming’ Use of Energy, Materials in Newer Manufacturing Processes
Modern manufacturing methods are spectacularly inefficient in their use of energy and materials, according to a detailed MIT analysis of the energy use of 20 major manufacturing processes.
Overall, new manufacturing systems are anywhere from 1,000 to one million times bigger consumers of energy, per pound of output, than more traditional industries. In short, pound for pound, making microchips uses up orders of magnitude more energy than making manhole covers.
At first glance, it may seem strange to make comparisons between such widely disparate processes as metal casting and chip making. But Professor Timothy Gutowski of MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, who led the analysis, explains that such a broad comparison of energy efficiency is an essential first step toward optimizing these newer manufacturing methods as they gear up for ever-larger production. (more…)
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Constructing the Virtual Car
A software program simulates assembly processes: virtual robots weld a virtual car body. (Fraunhofer ITWM)
Car component designers not only have to ensure that their designs are visually appealing, they also have to think about the assembly process: Can the designed dashboard be easily installed in the new car model? What assembly paths need to be taken so that the component does not hit and scratch the car body? Thanks to a new software program, components that only exist in the form of CAD data can be virtually installed in the new car model by the assembly planners. If a component is too large to be maneuvered into place, the program gives concrete advice on where to change its shape. (more…)
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Machines of the Future Goal of NEXT Project
The Basque technological centre, Fatronik-Tecnalia, is leading the NEXT (Next Generation Production Systems’ project), within the VI European R+D Framework Programme. It is the most ambitious project ever undertaken in Europe in the field of machinery and key to the automotive, aeronautics and transport sectors, amongst others. The NEXT initiative was approved by the European Commission in November 2004 and recently passed the third phase successfully. The project is forecast to end by October of this year.
All the partners involved share the goal of developing machines of the future and the business models for the production sector which will enable significant technological, industrial and social advances to take place. The objectives of NEXT are to produce more ecological machines with greater autonomy and productivity, to develop a new business model for machinery and to publish and share this new knowledge. The NEXT project is set to transform the European manufacturing industry, to meet the current challenges, such as delocating or the low costs of manufacture in emerging economies. (more…)
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Earth’s Resources Face ‘Perfect Storm’ of Long-Term Challenges
Carl Frahme, Ph.D.
Global competition, energy supplies and new technologies are among the issues converging to create a perfect storm that threatens to engulf the materials industries, according to a materials industry consultant.
“The ultimate driving force behind this storm is simply population growth,” said Carl E. Frahme, Ph.D., an instructor for ASM International, the materials information society. “The pressures have been overwhelming on supplies of raw materials and energy, and especially on the environment. And because technology has driven per capita consumption of all resources dramatically higher, the challenges are that much more intense.” (more…)
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