The global semiconductor market is growing rapidly. The growth is driven by advancements in IoT, automotive and 5G requiring faster chips that use less power. EUV lithography is a giant leap forward, yet defects in printing remain the greatest constraint to EUV uptake. Silicon is reaching its physical limits too, calling for new material innovations to keep Moore’s Law on track.
Epishine (Linköping, Sweden) and Optiqo (Linköping, Sweden) are cooperating to optimise Optiqo's QlvrBox, which currently operates on batteries, enabling the device to be installed independently of the facility’s infrastructure. This feature offers a great benefit when installing the boxes, however the batteries need to be replaced every 1-3 years. The new version of QlvrBox is developed using Epishine's light energy harvesting solution, and is thus powered by ordinary indoor lighting.
House key, wallet, health insurance card, hotel key card — a smart finger ring could replace all these in the future. Produced by a 3D printing process, the ring has an integrated RFID chip, tamper-proof, sealed and invisible. The technology of integrating electronics during 3D printing can of course be used for other applications too. The multifunctional ring was developed by a research team at Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV.
