#MEMS Innovations Enable Commercialization of Implantable Microchips for Drug-Delivery An implantable, microchip-based device may soon replace the injections
and pills now needed to treat chronic diseases: Earlier this month, MIT spinout Microchips Biotech partnered with a pharmaceutical giant to commercialize its wirelessly controlled, implantable,
microchip-based devices that store and release drugs inside the body over many years. Invented by Microchips Biotech cofounders Michael Cima, the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering,
and Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor, the microchips consist of hundreds of pinhead-sized reservoirs,
each capped with a metal membrane, that store tiny doses of therapeutics or chemicals. An electric current delivered by the device removes the membrane,
releasing a single dose. The device can be programmed wirelessly to release individual doses for up to 16 years to treat
and osteoporosis. Now Microchips Biotech will begin co-developing microchips with Teva Pharmaceutical, the world largest producer of generic drugs,
Apart from providing convenience, Microchips Biotech says these microchips could also improve medication-prescription adherence a surprisingly costly issue in the United states. A 2012 report published in the Annals of Internal medicine estimated that Americans who don stick to prescriptions rack up $100 billion
Microchips Biotech will continue work on its flagship product, a birth-control microchip, backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
Cima, who now serves on the Microchips Biotech board of directors with Langer, sees this hormone-releasing microchip as one of the first implantable rtificial organsbecause it acts as a gland. lot of the therapies are trying to chemically trick the endocrine systems Cima says. e are doing that with this artificial organ we created.
Wild ideas Inspiration for the microchips came in the late 1990s, when Langer watched a documentary on mass-producing microchips. thought to myself,
ouldn this be a great way to make a drug-delivery system??Langer says. He brought this idea to Cima,
a chip-making expert who was taken aback by its novelty. ut being out-of-this-world is not something that needs to stop anybody at MIT,
Cima adds. n fact, that should be the criterion. So in 1999, Langer, Cima, and then-graduate student John Santini Phd 9 co-founded Microchips,
and invented a prototype for their microchip that was described in a paper published that year in Nature.
This entrepreneurial collaboration was the first of many for Cima and Langer over the next decade.
For years, the technology underwent rigorous research and development at Microchips Biotech. But in 2011, Langer and Cima,
and researchers from Microchips, conducted the microchipsfirst human trials to treat osteoporosis this time with wireless capabilities.
In that study, published in a 2012 issue of Science Translational Medicine, microchips were implanted into seven elderly women,
Results indicated that the chips delivered doses comparable to injections and did so more consistently with no adverse side effects.
That study, combined with ongoing efforts in contraceptive-delivery microchips, led Cima to believe the microchips could someday,
essentially, be considered the first artificial glands that could regulate potent hormones inside the body. This may sound like a wild idea but Cima doesn think so.
The chip ends an endocrine or chemical signal instead of an electrical signal. MEMS innovations Microchips Biotech made several innovations in the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) manufacturing process to ensure the microchips could be commercialized.
A major innovation was enabling final assembly of the microchips at room temperature with hermetic seals. Any intense heat during final assembly, with hermetic sealing, could destroy the drugs already loaded into the reservoirs
which meant common methods of welding and soldering were off-limits. To do so, Microchips Biotech modified a cold-welding ongue and grooveprocess.
This meant depositing a soft, gold alloy in patterns on the top of the chip to create tongues, and grooves on the base.
By pressing the top and base pieces together, the tongues fit into the grooves, and plastically deforms to weld the metal together. ach one of these reservoirs,
The company has also found ways to integrate electronics into the microchips to shrink down the device.
the company could refine the microchips to be even smaller, yet carry the same volume of drugs. his means making the drugs take up more volume than the electrical and other components,
Keysight's electronic measurement instruments, systems software and services are used in the design, development, manufacture, installation, deployment and operation of electronic equipment.
or to act as microscopic beakers for chemical reactions for the development of smart materials such as clever sensors.
#OSU Scientists Use Microreactor to Create Silver nanoparticles at Room temperature for Printed Electronics There may be broad applications in microelectronics, sensors, energy devices, low emissivity coatings and even transparent displays.
The findings were reported in Journal of Materials Chemistry C. Silver has long been considered for the advantages it offers in electronic devices.
This advance may open the door to much wider use of silver and other conductors in electronics applications,
researchers said. here a great deal of interest in printed electronics, because theye fast, cheap, can be done in small volumes
these electronics could be flexible, very inexpensive and stable, Chang said. his could be quite important
could be solar cells, printed circuit boards, low-emissivity coatings, or transparent electronics. A microchannel applicator used in the system will allow the creation of smaller, more complex electronics features.
This research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and Oregon Built environment and Sustainable Technologies Center
or Oregon BEST. Source: http://oregonstate. edu p
#New Technique Uses Ultrasound Waves for Bulk Synthesis of Graphene A team of researchers from the University of Tabriz have developed a method to manufacture graphene, a crystalline allotrope of carbon, in a simple and economical manner.
Its highly versatile nature makes it applicable for use in numerous electronics gadgets such as wearables, flexible displays and other sophisticated electronic devices."
"Our understanding of optics on the macroscale has led to holograms, Google glass and LEDS, just to name a few technologies.
#Smart Sensor Chip with Nanocavities for Early Prostate Cancer Diagnosis Researchers at the University of Birmingham believe that the novel technology will help improve the process of early stage diagnosis. Glycoprotein molecules,
The team of chemical engineers and chemists, created a sensor chip with synthetic receptors along a 2d surface to identify specific
"To engineering the sensor chip, the team developed a smart surface with nanocavities that fit the particular target glycoprotein.
captures harmful gas and weaves transistors into shirts and dresses. otton is one of the most fascinating and misunderstood materials,
The Hinestroza group has turned cotton fibers into electronic components such as transistors and thermistors so instead of adding electronics to fabrics,
he converts the fabric into an electronic component. reating transistors and other components using cotton fibers brings a new perspective to the seamless integration of electronics
and textiles, enabling the creation of unique wearable electronic devices, Hinestroza said. Taking advantage of cotton irregular topography, Hinestroza and his students added conformal coatings of gold nanoparticles,
as well as semiconductive and conductive polymers to tailor the behavior of natural cotton fibers. he layers were so thin that the flexibility of the cotton fibers is preserved always,
Hinestroza said, ibers are everywhere from your underwear, pajamas, toothbrushes, tires, shoes, car seats, air filtration systems and even your clothes.
#Applied Nanotech Tests Ballistic, Blast-Resistant Armor Panels with Printed Electronic Antennas Applied Nanotech, Inc. ANI), a PEN Inc. company (PEN), announces successful completion
and test of fiberglass ballistic and blast-resistant armor panels that incorporate printed electronic antennas capable of sending
The multi-function armor eliminates the need for multiple high-profile communications antenna structures on military vehicles
The armor-incased antennas also have jamming capability to block radio signals such as those used to remotely trigger explosives,
Two wideband low-profile antennas have been developed, each capable of carrying signals at multiple frequencies. Together they provide electronic warfare, jamming and communication capabilities.
combines the knowledge and experience of printed electronics of ANI with the antenna design and modeling capabilities of UT Knoxville and Villanova,
"The applications of printed electronics are vast; ANI offers the knowledge and experience to help realize the potential,
and create a complex antenna structure that not only provides ballistic protection but also may help defeat improvised explosive devices
modeling and testing,"says Dr. Ahmad Hoorfar, Professor and Director of Antenna Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer engineering, Villanova University y
#Scientists Discover New Chemical reaction Pathway on Titanium dioxide The reaction mechanism, reported in ACS Nano, involves the application of an electric field that narrows the width of the reaction barrier,
and flexible electronics. raphene is more conductive than any metal we know of, and it 200 times stronger than steel because of the way the atoms bond to form a hexagonal pattern (think of chicken wire) with a cloud of free electrons hovering above and below it,
aims to increase the functionality and performance of next-generation integrated circuits while reducing footprint and power consumption.
It is a key technology to enable the next generation of portable electronics, such as smartphones and tablets,
and processes, has enabled us to develop our 8800 TC bonder tool according to the needs of the semiconductor industry,
#New Method to Visualize Topological Insulators at the Nanoscale Using Large particle accelerator Scientists trying to improve the semiconductors that power our electronic devices have focused on a technology called spintronics as one especially promising area of research.
Unlike conventional devices that use electronscharge to create power, spintronic devices use electronsspin. The technology is used already in computer hard drives
Emerging research has shown that one key to greatly improving performance in spintronics could be a class of materials called topological insulators.
A direct electron detector is the second component which has a much higher sensitivity than conventional camera film.
They range from highly efficient detectors for optical and wireless communications to transistors operating at very high speeds.
A constantly increasing demand for telecommunication bandwidth requires an ever faster operation of electronic devices, pushing their response times to be as short as a picosecond. he results of this study will help improve the performance of graphene-based nanoelectronic devices such as ultra-high speed transistors and photodetectorssays Professor Dmitry Turchinovich,
who led the research at the MPI-P. In particular they show the way for breaking the terahertz operation speed barrier i e. one thousand billions of oscillations per second for graphene transistors.
Source: http://www. mpip-mainz. mpg. de w
#Gallium Phosphide Nanowires Significantly Increase Efficiency of Solar fuel Cells The solar cell made of gallium phosphide (Gap) generates clean fuel hydrogen gas from Water gap is a compound containing phosphide and gallium which also acts
as a basis for certain colored LEDS. If the gallium phosphide is processed in the form of tiny nanowires,
To that end, researchers have been focusing on a semiconductor material which not only changes sunlight into an electrical charge,
including medicine, electronics and energy. Discovered only 11 years ago, graphene is one of the strongest materials in the world,
When these nanocage structures are used in fuel cell electrodes, platinum's utilization efficiency can be increased by a factor of seven,
especially when compared with electronic devices that can be as small as a few micrometers. In a seminal paper in the scientific journal"Nature Photonics",Juerg Leuthold, professor of photonics and communications at ETH Zurich,
therefore, be integrated easily into electronic circuits. Moreover, the new modulator is considerably cheaper and faster than common models,
The highly accurate front-end design of the DT7837 allows simultaneous measurement of four 24-bit IEPE sensor inputs at a sampling rate of 102.4 ks/s. The module is ideal for precision measurements
with microphones accelerometers and other transducers that have a large dynamic range. Common applications include audio acoustic and vibration testing.
#New IT-Based Fitness Tool with Sensors for the Physically Impaired A test subject rocks her upper body from left to right.
and the aid of our smart shoulder pad, says Andreas Huber, scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated circuits IIS in Erlangen.
Fitted inside the pad are small sensors that record each movement of the test subject
while others suffer from hearing impairments. hese specific disabilities led to concrete ideas, explains Mizera. Three ideas were implemented by the researchers together with the thalidomide victims, Heidelberg University,
and shape and contains some very clever electronics. Researchers have fitted sensors for every conceivable movement,
whether rotational, vertical or horizontal. hile users play, they unconsciously do recommended the exercises by therapists.
and testing how the sensor technology could be integrated directly into clothing e
#New Technique Probes the Sea floor Using Ocean's Weak Seismic Waves A technology developed by Stanford scientists for passively probing the seafloor using weak seismic waves generated by the ocean could revolutionize offshore oil and natural gas extraction
or ASNT, uses sensors embedded in the seafloor. The sensors, which are installed typically by robotic submersibles,
are connected to one another by cables and arranged into parallel rows that can span several kilometers of the seafloor.
Another cable connects the sensor array to a platform in order to collect data in real time. The sensors record ambient seismic waves traveling through Earth's crust.
The waves are generated ubiquitous, continuously and traveling in every direction, but using careful signal processing schemes they developed,
Biondi and De Ridder can digitally isolate only those waves that are passing through one sensor and then another one downstream.
and for multiple sensors in the network, what emerges is a"virtual"seismic wave pattern that is remarkably similar to the kind generated by air guns.
and Conocophillips to study recordings from existing sensor arrays in the Valhall and Ekofisk oil fields in the North sea that are capable of recording ambient seismic waves.
#Glucolight Sensor Measures Blood sugar Level Through the Skin Drawing blood regularly from the sensitive little ones for hours on end however is impossible as the blood loss
and the University Hospital Zurich thus teamed up to develop the sensor Glucolight which gages the blood sugar level through the skin without taking any blood.
Although skin sensors already exist they have to be calibrated before use which means that the skin's permeability value needs to be known.
and the sensor calibrated. Glucolight spares the premature babies blood samples and enables the blood sugar level to be monitored permanently thanks to the sensor's novel measuring technology which comprises several parts:
A microdialysis measuring head which was developed at the University Hospital Zurich with a smart membrane developed at Empa;
and pumped through the microfluidics chip while enzymes are added to trigger a reaction. During the reaction a fluorescence appears which the fluorometer measures
Empa and the University Hospital Zurich are currently in negotiations with partners for the industrial production of the sensor.
#ams Introduces New Class of Sensor-Integrated Smart Lighting Manager Solutions This new class of sensor-integrated smart lighting manager solutions delivers cost-effective Iot-connected
Photopic sensors built with nano-optic filters integrated into the AS721X series are designed to help lighting manufacturers address the growing challenges of energy saving lighting mandates including daylighting controls.
#The AS721X family of smart lighting silicon photonics sensor solutions create a natural Internet of things (Iot) sensor hub within smart buildings
which results in an Internet of Awareness#through the convergence of Iot-connected lighting and sensor fusion#said Sajol Ghoshal who is responsible for Emerging Sensor Strategies at ams.#
#The AS721X family is ams#first platform technology of integrated sensor solutions that provide system-level sensing
Integrating a sensor-based manager into each luminaire optimizes the overall responsiveness and efficiency of the lighting system maximizing energy savings.
#ams#ground-breaking sensor-integrated manager series addresses head-on the lighting industry#s desire for technically feasible integrated controls that are also cost
#Competitive offerings in the space are essentially#build your own#devices requiring discrete components including sensors processors memory and
I/O chips that require design integration and time-consuming programming of control and communications algorithms.
#Saturas Successfully Conducts Field trials of Embedded Stem Water Sensor The field tests were conducted on peach and citrus trees at the Hula Valley Orchards Experimental Farm.
Based on the research of Dr. Moshe Meron Saturas has developed a miniature stem water potential (SWP) sensor that is embedded in the trunks of trees vines and plants.
The Saturas sensor provides accurate information for optimized irrigation to reduce water consumption with no stress to the plants and increases fruit production and quality.
Saturas'precision agriculture sensing system comprises of miniature implanted sensors wireless transponders and delivery of information to the farmer's Internet device:
Despite numerous approaches to sensor-based irrigation including measuring soil and leaf moisture the market lacks a solution that combines accuracy ease of use and affordability.
Embedding the sensor in the trunk eliminates the common problem of damage to sensors placed in the soil or on fruit or leaves.
#Silicon Labs Debuts New Family of Power-efficient High-Precision Temperature Sensors Silicon Labs, a leading provider of environmental and optical sensing solutions for the Internet of things and industrial
automation, today introduced a new family of high-precision temperature sensors offering industry-leading power efficiency. Silicon Labsultra-low-power Si705x temperature sensors consume only 195 na (typical average current)
when sampled once per second, which minimizes self-heating and enables multi-year coin cell battery operation.
Unlike traditional digital temperature sensors, the Si705x devices maintain their accuracy across the full operating temperature
and offer four accuracy levels up to+/-0. 3°C. The sensors are ideal for HVAC,
or embedded MCU temperature sensors suffer from poor accuracy and higher power consumption. Although improved accuracy can be achieved through end-of-line calibration,
the integrated low-power analog design delivers an optimal price/performance solution with up to 35 times better power efficiency than competing temperature sensor products.
Available in a compact 3 mm x 3 mm DFN package, the Si705x sensors feature an industry-standard I2c interface for easy configuration.
With a low 1. 9 V minimum power supply voltage, the Si705x sensors can be connected directly to a battery without the need for an external voltage regulator. emperature is the most pervasive environmental metric that embedded developers need to measure
Power and Sensor products. lthough many competing options are available for temperature sensing, the Si705x devices provide the most power-efficient option
The Si705x temperature sensors are the newest members of Silicon Labsgrowing portfolio of environmental and optical sensor products for the Internet of things, consumer and industrial automation markets.
Silicon Labssensor portfolio includes relative humidity (RH) and temperature sensors proximity and ambient light sensors, UV index and ambient light sensors,
and capacitive touch sensors, as well as isolated ac current sensors and high-side dc current sensors for power management applications.
The Si705x temperature sensors are pin-compatible and software-compatible with Silicon Labspopular Si70xx RH and temperature sensor family.
This compatibility enables existing RH sensor designs and software to be reused easily for temperature-only applications.
Pricing and Availability Samples and production quantities of Silicon Labssi705x temperature sensors are available now.
Si705x sensor pricing in 10,000-unit quantities begins at $0. 61 (USD. The Si705x USB dongle evaluation kits, priced at $49 (USD MSRP),
streamline Si705x sensor evaluation and application development. The Si705x USB dongle kits are supported by a Windows-based GUI that simplifies control of the Si705x sensors and temperature measurements.
A variety of source code and driver examples is available in Silicon Labssimplicity Studio development environment. For additional Si705x product information, to order samples and evaluation kits,
and to download development software, visit www. silabs. com/temperature-sensors i
#Scientists Discover Nutrient Sensor That Senses Amino acid Arginine Through a variety of mechanistic interactions mtorc1 interprets cues in the cellular environment including the availability of nutrients
and signals the organism to act accordingly. mtorc1 is apt to trigger growth during times of abundance
and dial back metabolism when food is scarce. Owing to years of intense scrutiny in the lab of Whitehead Institute Member David Sabatini the key players of this pathway
--whose deregulation is associated with diseases ranging from diabetes to cancer to epilepsy--have gradually been brought to light.
what are the sensors? Now we've found what is likely the first nutrient sensor.
This is what connects that core machinery to the world around it. The finding suggests a model in
Taken together such compelling evidence points to SLC38A9 as an amino acid sensor tipping off the Rags to the availability of nutrients.
It has all the properties consistent with a sensor. As new components of the pathway are identified
Although the discovery of the first nutrient sensor in this pathway represents an important advance the researchers know much work lies ahead.
SLC38A9's specificity for arginine suggests that many more such sensors--for other amino acids and glucose for example--interact either directly or indirectly with mtorc1.
#Taiwan Biophotonic Releases DOE Reflective Sensor for Fingerless Wrist-Worn Pulse Oximeters Vast amounts of biometric information such as pulse rate blood oxygen
Therefore there are surface mount reflective sensors that attach to skin surface emit the incident light and detect the reflective light at the same side of the skin surface.
The Taiwan Biophotonic's Reflective Pulse Oximetry Sensor consists of red and infrared LEDS a light detector and a unique DOE component
which exhibits high signal to noise features. This DOE component is structured a micro optical element designed to modulate the photon propagation within the skin tissue
This technology enables the development of one of the industry's first reflective optical sensor that continuous measures the pulse rate
Currently the measurement of pulse rate and blood oxygen saturation at the wrist has not yet been achieved successfully by common reflective optical sensor.
A demonstration unit of wrist-worn pulse oximetry device with Taiwan Biophotonic's Reflective Pulse Oximetry Sensor was developed
This reflective pulse oximetry sensor is just the beginning of a line of wearable solutions that Taiwan Biophotonic Co. will be introducing this year.
#ON Semiconductor Showcases Fully-Functional 3d Stacked CMOS Imaging Sensor at CES 2015 The technology has been implemented successfully
and characterized on a test chip with 1. 1-micron(#m) pixels and will be introduced in a product later this year.
Conventional sensor designs in a monolithic substrate process require separate die area to support both the pixel array and supporting circuitry.
With this approach design engineers can optimize each part of the sensor for imaging performance cost power
With the optimization of the pixel array sensors can have improved pixel performance with lower noise levels and enhanced pixel response.
#3d stacking technology is an exciting breakthrough that enhances our ability to optimize ON Semiconductor#s future sensors#said Sandor Barna vice president of Technology for ON Semiconductor#s Image Sensor Group.#
and design flexibility to ensure continued performance leadership across our entire sensor product portfolio.#
#CES 2015: Linktop to Present Mechanical Smart Watch and Graphene-Based Thermometer Linktop Technology is introducing its mechanical smart watch
and Graphene-based products cloud thermometer to the 2015 Consumer electronics Show (CES) in Las vegas, Nevada (January 6-9, 2015).
So Linktop created Mechanical smartwatch U2. U2 is a perfect combination of the traditional mechanical watch and smart watch,"Mr. Bill states."
It is also a remote control for smartphone so that to take a picture and control the music player.
#NIST Develops 16-Antenna Array for Modeling of Wireless communications Channels at 83ghz To help solve the wireless crowding conundrum
But some devices are starting to use fast silicon-germanium radio chips operating at millimeter (mm) wavelengths above 10 GHZ.
Because high-speed digital circuits can easily distort mm wave signals even tiny errors can result in erroneous bits of information.
Possible solutions include development of complex antenna arrays that may provide novel capabilities such as beam steering--the capability to transmit in many different directions to point the beam directly at the receiving device and even track mobile devices.
So far Remley and her colleagues have developed a calibrated modulated signal source to test mm wave instruments such as receivers
**and a new facility for characterizing antennas operating above 100 GHZ.*****The new calibrated signal source demonstrated at 44 GHZ
As part of the same project NIST researchers are also developing a millimeter-wave instrument to measure the nonlinear characteristics of the transistors
and amplifiers that will be used in mm wave receivers transmitters and other devices. All of this research is being done in NIST's new Communications technology Laboratory.
#New Multi-Sensor Mobile Engagement Platform from Adtile As part of Firemotion Adtile Technologies partnered with Passworks
and money developing new sensor-enabled mobile ads Firemotion ad builds will be available through the password-protected Adtile Motion Store.
"Omnivision's easily integrated OVM6211 global shutter sensor, working in tandem with our gesture recognition technology,
"We continue to work with eyesight to enhance the accuracy and speed of gesture-recognition solutions with our latest image sensors."
sensor and packaging that uses a 3-micron Omnipixel3-GS#global shutter pixel, enabling it to capture high-resolution video at 120 frames per second (FPS).
and commercial applications, including mobile phones, notebooks, tablets and webcams, digital still and video cameras, security and surveillance, entertainment devices, automotive and medical imaging systems.
and built a novel full-duplex transceiver architecture, which combines electrical balance isolation and active radio frequency cancellation.
Optimum single antenna full duplex using hybrid junctions by Leo Laughlin, Mark A. Beach, Kevin A. Morris and John L. Haine in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas
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