News : Research

INAC and Institut Néel recently acquired a new X-ray diffractometer as part of a joint research project. The equipment, designed for studying thin layers and nano-scale objects, off ers excellent resolution of three thousandths of a degree and two in-field and out-of-field confi gurations. It is also equipped with an oven for hightemperature (up to […] >>

France’s National Junior Enterprise Foundation (CNJE) recently admitted studentrun non-profi t business Phelma Junior Consultants (Junior Conseil Phelma, or JCP) to its national network after successful completion of a quality audit. Phelma Junior Consultants now has up to fi ve years to complete the process of earning the national Junior Enterprise label, a hallmark of […] >>

The DC-to-DC converters that power electronic circuits can take up nearly a third of a circuit board’s surface area and account for up to half of a circuit’s power consumption. One way to solve the problem is to integrate the converters closer to the circuits they power—in other words, right on the silicon! This ingenious […] >>

Gallium nitride (GaN) is fi nally giving silicon a run for its money for use in power transistors capable of switching hundreds of volts. What has changed? Until now, GaN fabrication processes were simply cost prohibitive. Researchers at Leti are on the verge of overcoming cost concerns with their recent 650 V “normally-on” transistor, fabricated […] >>

In R&D conducted under the EU ML2 (MultiLayer MicroLab) project, Leti recently transferred a process to Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute that functionalizes long spools (over 100 meters) of PMMA plastic sheets by grafting biological molecules onto the material. Oxygen plasma treatment is used to modify the plastic’s surface, and then contactless printing is used to graft […] >>