Process Engineering

Thanks in part to highly accurate measurements made by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers, semiconductor manufacturers will be able to pursue a new production method that will enable them to produce new generations of computer chips using existing equipment—saving the industry hundreds of millions of dollars.

Creating ever more powerful computer chips relies on being able to increasingly miniaturize the features on those chips. Industry had thought it might

A three-dimensional microfabrication technique that uses a unique class of light-activated molecules to selectively initiate chemical reactions within polymers and other materials could provide an efficient way to produce complex structures with sub-micron features.

Known as “two-photon 3D lithography,” the technique could compete with existing processes for fabricating microfluidic devices, photonic bandgap structures, optical storage devices, photonic switches and couplers, sensors, actuat

Researchers have created a portable, chip-size version of a detection system that is commonly used by industry and law enforcement to identify everything from agricultural toxins to DNA.

The miniature detector could move certain types of testing from the lab into the field, saving time and money while increasing security.

The team, which used a newly developed laser-processing technique to create the miniature detector, was supported by the National Science Foundation and led by a P

In Treibstoffen enthaltene Schwefel- und Stickstoff-Verbindungen setzen bei der Verbrennung Schwefel- und Stickoxide frei, die die Umwelt belasten. Daher wird immer größerer Wert darauf gelegt, dass Benzin, Diesel und Kerosin möglichst frei von diesen Stoffen sind.

Forscher der University of Michigan haben eine neue Methode entwickelt, um unliebsame Stickstoffverbindungen aus Diesel zu entfernen. Ralph T. Yang und Arturo J. Hernández-Maldonado suchten nach einer adsorptiven Methode, um stör

Researchers at Purdue University have developed a miniature device sensitive enough to detect a single virus particle, an advancement that could have many applications, including environmental-health monitoring and homeland security.

The device is a tiny “cantilever,” a diving board-like beam of silicon that naturally vibrates at a specific frequency. When a virus particle weighing about one-trillionth as much as a grain of rice lands on the cantilever, it vibrates at a different frequency,

Cutting high-thickness metal sheets is a basic manufacturing process common to a wide range of industrial sectors, from heavy carpentry to ship-building. Laser-cutting technology ought, in theory, to have significant advantages over traditional cutting processes, among them high cutting speed, no tool wear and a reduction in the transfer of energy to the piece of metal being cut. Yet despite the fact that commercial laser-cutting systems have been on the market for a decade, their use has not become