News : Technological challenges

The SmartCut technology is nowdays widely used on the manufacture of innovative substrates such as SOI (Silicon-on-Insulator). The fundamental physical phenomena underlying this process are still being actively studied. In particular, the catastrophic fracture step, which allows the transfer of a very thin layer of a donor substrate onto a base or receiver substrate. An […] >>

Silicon photonics was initially developed for high-performance telecommunications, but new applications quickly emerged. These include the development of LiDARs (Light Detection And Ranging) intended for environmental imaging for vehicles and autonomous systems. Indeed, existing LiDARs are made of discrete components whose mechanical assembly makes them fragile, expensive and bulky. By using a photonic chip, the […] >>

The automated resolution of cognitive tasks primarily relies on learning algorithms applied to neural networks which, when executed on standard architectures, lead to a power consumption several orders of magnitude larger than what the brain would require. This consumption can be drastically reduced by using hardware computing systems with an architecture inspired by biological or […] >>

In the history of semiconductors, the requirements in terms of device size have always followed a descending trend. Low thermal budget solutions are now key to manage these specifications. Within this context, nanosecond laser annealing stands as an excellent solution. Laser process conditions can be adjusted to the material structure. During heating and according to […] >>

Power electronics used in particular for the electric vehicle requires the fabrication of smaller and smaller devices able of sustaining high currents and high working voltages. The miniaturization of these components requires the development of new dielectric materials with high breakdown field. A promising approach is to combine the high dielectric constant of inorganic oxides […] >>