Lifeboat Foundation

In a breakthrough set to revolutionize the semiconductor industry, the School of Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed the world’s first-of-its-kind deep-ultraviolet (UVC) microLED display array for lithography machines. This enhanced efficiency UVC microLED has showcased the viability of a lowered cost maskless photolithography through the provision of adequate light output power density, enabling exposure of photoresist films in a shorter time.

Conducted under the supervision of Prof. Kwok Hoi-Sing, Founding Director of the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies at HKUST, the study was a collaborative effort with the Southern University of Science and Technology, and the Suzhou Institute of Nanotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

A lithography machine is crucial equipment for semiconductor manufacturing, applying short-wavelength ultraviolet light to make integrated circuit chips with various layouts. However, traditional mercury lamps and deep ultraviolet LED light sources have shortcomings such as large device size, low resolution, high energy consumption, low light efficiency, and insufficient optical power density.

A trio of physicists from the University of Rennes, Aoyama Gakuin University, and the University of Lyon have discovered, through experimentation, that it is friction between fibers that allows knitted fabrics to take on a given form. Jérôme Crassous, Samuel Poincloux, and Audrey Steinberger have attempted to understand the underlying mechanics involved in the forms of knitted garments. Their paper is published in Physical Review Letters.

The research team noted that while many of the factors that are involved in intertwined fabrics have been studied to better understand their characteristics (such as why sweaters keep people warm despite the gaps between stitches), much less is known about the form garments made using such techniques can take.

To learn more, they conducted experiments using a nylon yarn and a well-known Jersey knit stitch called the stockinette—a technique that involves forming interlocked loops using knitting needles. They knitted a piece of fabric using 70×70 stitches and attached it to a biaxial tensile machine.

Super-resolution (SR) technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing the quality of images. SR reconstruction aims to generate high-resolution images from low-resolution ones. Traditional methods often result in blurred or distorted images. Advanced techniques such as sparse representation and deep learning-based methods have shown promising results but still face limitations in terms of noise robustness and computational complexity.

In a recent study published in Sensors, researchers from the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed innovative solutions that integrate chaotic mapping into SR image reconstruction process, significantly enhancing the image quality across various fields.

Researchers innovatively introduced circle chaotic mapping into the dictionary sequence solving process of the K-singular value decomposition (K-SVD) dictionary update algorithm. This integration facilitated balanced traversal and simplified the search for global optimal solutions, thereby enhancing the noise robustness of the SR reconstruction.

Scientists at Macquarie University have discovered a novel way to enhance quantum sensor performance using ordinary grapes.

By utilizing the water content and specific size of grapes, they created strong magnetic field hotspots that improve the efficiency of microwave-based quantum sensing.

Supermarket Grapes and Quantum Sensors.

A new study explores the potential consequences of time travel, including the possibility of losing all your memories.

Special multi-layer mirrors guide the light through plates called masks, which hold the intricate patterns of the integrated circuits for semiconductor wafers. The light projects the pattern onto a photoresist layer that is etched away to leave the integrated circuits on the chip, according to a press release by LLNL.

The project also aims to investigate the primary hypothesis that the energy efficiency of existing EUV lithography sources for semiconductor production can be improved with technology developed for the novel petawatt-class BAT laser, which uses thulium-doped yttrium lithium fluoride (Tm: YLF) as the gain medium through which the power and intensity of laser beams are increased, as per the release.

Scientists have planned to conduct a demonstration pairing the compact high-rep-rate BAT laser with technologies that generate sources of EUV light using shaped nanosecond pulses and high-energy x-rays and particles using ultrashort sub-picosecond pulses.

Have you ever wondered how fast our brains work? Well, scientists have recently quantified the brain’s speed limit. They revealed that from sensory organs, the brain processes signals at only about 10 bits per second.

This speed is millions of times slower than the input rate, as the human body’s sensory systems gather data about the surrounding environment at a rate of a billion bits per second.

“I’m really happy to announce the successful accomplishment of the launch of PSLV 60 for the SpaDeX mission,” ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said shortly after the launch in a live webcast. “The rocket has placed the satellites in the right orbit.” If all goes well, the first docking attempt could occur by Jan. 7, he added.

The SpaDeX mission is made up of two satellites, a Target and a Chaser, on a mission to test autonomous docking technology in orbit. But ISRO hopes to do more than just test automatic docking gear.

Continue reading “India launches 2 SpaDeX satellites on ambitious space docking test for future moon mission, space station” »

Earlier, Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Alexander Gintsburg told TASS that the vaccine’s pre-clinical trials had shown that it suppresses tumor development and potential metastases.

MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Russia has developed its own mRNA vaccine against cancer, it will be distributed to patients free of charge, General Director of the Radiology Medical Research Center of the Russian Ministry of Health Andrey Kaprin has told Radio Rossiya.

The vaccine was developed in collaboration with several research centers. It is planned to launch it in general circulation in early 2025.

Continue reading “Russian cancer vaccine to be free of charge — top oncologist” »