Elementary Mr. Watson: Navigating RF—A Glide Path Approach to Design Success
Designers Notebook: Layer Stackup Planning for RF Circuit Boards
Connect the Dots: Involving Manufacturers Earlier Prevents Downstream Issues
Self-Stacking Nanogrids
January 22, 2016 | MITEstimated reading time: 4 minutes
Glass-like wires are not directly useful for electronic applications, but it might be possible to seed them with other types of molecules, which would make them electronically active, or to use them as a template for depositing other materials. The researchers hope that they can reproduce their results with more functional polymers. To that end, they had to theoretically characterize the process that yielded their results. “We use computer simulations to understand the key parameters controlling the polymer orientation,” Gadelrab says.
What they found was that the geometry of the cylinders in the bottom layer limited the possible orientations of the cylinders in the upper layer. If the walls of the lower cylinders are too steep to permit the upper cylinders from fitting in comfortably, the upper cylinders will try to find a different orientation.
It’s also important that the upper and lower layers have only weak chemical interactions. Otherwise, the upper cylinders will try to stack themselves on top of the lower ones like logs on a pile.
Both of these properties — cylinder geometry and chemical interaction — can be predicted from the physics of polymer molecules. So it should be possible to identify other polymers that will exhibit the same behavior.
According to Patrick Theofanis, an engineer at the chip manufacturer Intel, the nanocylinders themselves are less interesting than the spaces between them. “In general, the ability to pattern square holes is very useful for us,” he says.
“If you think of the back end of our chips, we have the back-end wiring, and then you have the interconnect layers between those back-end metal layers, and that’s where you’d like to be able to punch through holes and connect one layer to the next one. It’s an attractive technology because the aspect ratio is very tunable in the way that they’ve done their scheme.”
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation.
Share on:
Suggested Items
Discovery Opens Doors for Cheaper and Quicker Battery Manufacturing
04/23/2025 | PNNLThe discovery centers on sublimation, a commonly known process whereby under the right conditions, a solid turns directly into a vapor. Sublimation is what creates the tail of a comet as it flies by the sun. As the comet’s icy shell heats up, the ice instantly becomes vapor, instead of first melting into liquid water.
Real Time with... IPC APEX EXPO 2025: DuPont Electronics Materials and Innovations
04/23/2025 | Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPODuPont is many things to many markets, but DuPont Electronics Materials is, perhaps, a bit out of the DuPont "norm," developing specialized electronic materials that are particularly focused on challenging areas such as flex circuits, high power PCBs and products that must withstand harsh environments. At IPC APEX EXPO, Marcy LaRont sat down with Shannon Dugan from DuPont Electronics Materials to discuss some big news. They are being spun off into an independent entity with a new CEO having just been announced as the show wrapped.
Material Selection and RF Design
04/21/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineInnovation rarely sleeps in this industry, and the RF laminate segment offers a perfect example. RF materials have continued to evolve, providing PCB designers much more than an either/or choice. I asked materials expert Alun Morgan, technology ambassador for the Ventec International Group, to walk us through the available RF material sets and how smart material selection can ease the burden on RF designers and design engineers.
DuPont Announces Additional Directors for the Planned Independent Electronics Company
04/18/2025 | DuPontDuPont announced that Karin De Bondt and Anne Noonan will become members of the future board of directors for the independent Electronics public company that will be created following its intended spin-off from DuPont, which is targeted for November 1, 2025.
Indium Experts to Present on Power Electronics at PCIM Europe 2025
04/17/2025 | Indium CorporationAs one of the leading materials providers to the power electronics assembly and e-Mobility industries, Indium Corporation experts will share their technical insight and knowledge on a variety of industry-related topics throughout PCIM Europe, May 6-8, in Nuremberg, Germany.