Micro/Nano Mechanics, Fluidics & Structures

Medtech Miniaturization: How Tiny Devices Make a Big Impact

MDDI: Nearly five years ago, FDA approved Medtronic’s Micra, the first leadless pacemaker to reach the U.S. market. Touted as the world’s smallest pacemaker, the Micra represented a major innovative leap in pacemaker technology. The device is also a perfect…

Bionic muscles that are stronger, faster, and more efficient

IEEE Spectrum: Artificial muscles, once a tangle of elaborate servomotors, and hydraulic and pneumatic actuators, is now a thing of shape-memory alloys and hair-thin carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers. Bionics are, in brief, getting smaller—though perhaps not simpler. Electrochemical CNT muscles are…

A New Lens Technology Is Primed to Jump-Start Phone Cameras

Wired: The camera on the first iPhone way back in 2007 was a mere 2 megapixels. And it only had a rear camera; there wasn’t even a front-facing selfie shooter. Today, you’ll find multiple cameras on the front and back…

New Transistor Structures At 3nm/2nm

Semiconductor Engineering: Several foundries continue to develop new processes based on next-generation gate-all-around transistors, including more advanced high-mobility versions, but bringing these technologies into production is going to be difficult and expensive. Intel, Samsung, TSMC and others are laying the groundwork for the transition from today’s finFET transistors to new…