Page 8


www.us- tech.com Continued from page 1


will take more time to complete. This is the result of automating many low- level, repetitive tasks, leaving more complex issues to a human manager, which consequently, require longer pe- riods of time to resolve. What Gartner calls “hyper au-


tomation” is a trend that combines machine learning algorithms, process automation tools and software in a comprehensive, integrated offering. For example, in warehousing and in- ventory management, e-commerce and facility automation has driven enormous change in the way goods are stored, tracked and shipped. In the short term, we are not


What’s Next In Soldering Innovation


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likely to see a massive drop in em- ployment in fields like warehousing. In fact, research by Berkely projects employment to rise over the next 5 to 10 years. Demand is still growing, which requires more workers. Roles are changing, as broader adoption of technologies like autonomous mobile robots and RFID tags continues. Manufacturers should include


February, 2020 Man in the Middle...


workers from all levels in an organiza- tion in the discussion to identify which processes should or should not be au- tomated. As a factory grows more au- tonomous, humans are critical in su- pervising the flow of production and troubleshooting issues.


The solution lies in the middle:


humans working in concert with robotic systems.


Developers of automated pro -


cesses must prepare for every possible issue, training human workers to step in and resolve issues without difficul- ty. According to Forrester, “...every automated system must be designed with humans at the center.” r


New Method Creates Robust Transistors


Continued from page 1


electric vehicles. Gallium nitride vapor is al-


lowed to condense onto a wafer of sil- icon carbide, forming a thin coating. The method in which one crystalline material is grown on a substrate of another is known as “epitaxy.” Epi- taxy is often used in the semiconduc- tor industry, since it provides great freedom in determining both the crystal structure and the chemical composition of the nanometer film formed.


GaN and SiC The combination of GaN and sil-


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icon carbide (SiC) — both of which can withstand strong electric fields — ensures that the circuits are suitable for applications in which high power is required. The fit at the surface between


the two crystalline materials, GaN and SiC, is poor. The atoms end up mismatched with each other, leading to failure of the transistor. This was addressed by research, which has led to a commercial solution, in which an even thinner layer of aluminum nitride was placed between the two


layers. The engineers at SweGaN no-


ticed, by chance, that their transis- tors could cope with significantly higher field strengths than they ex- pected and they could not initially understand the reason why. The an- swer can be found at the atomic level — in a couple of critical intermediate surfaces inside the components. Researchers at LiU and Swe-


GaN, lead by LiU’s Lars Hultman and Jun Lu, presented an explana- tion of the phenomenon in Applied Physics Letters, in which they de- scribe a method to manufacture tran- sistors with an even greater ability to withstand high voltages. The scientists have discovered a


previously unknown epitaxial growth mechanism that they have named “transmorphic epitaxial growth.” It causes the strain between the differ- ent layers to be gradually absorbed across a couple of layers of atoms. This means that they can grow the two layers, gallium nitride and alu- minum nitride, on silicon carbide in a manner so as to control at the atom- ic level how the layers are related to each other in the material. Web: www.liu.se r


Skin-Like Sensors Bring a Human Touch to Wearables


Toronto, Ontario, Canada — Univer- sity of Toronto engineering re- searchers have developed a super- stretchy, transparent and self-power- ing sensor that records the complex sensations of human skin. Dubbed “artificial ionic skin,” or


AISkin for short, the researchers be- lieve the innovative properties of AISkin could lead to future advance- ments in wearable electronics, per- sonal health care and robotics. The adhesive AISkin is made of


two oppositely charged sheets of stretchable substances known as hy- drogels. By overlaying negative and positive ions, the researchers create what they call a “sensing junction” on the gel’s surface.


When the AISkin is subjected to


strain, humidity or changes in temper- ature, it generates controlled ion movements across the sensing junc- tion, which can be measured as electri- cal signals, such as voltage or current. “It’s hydrogel, it’s inexpensive


and biocompatible — you can put it on the skin without any toxic effects,” says professor Xinyu Liu. “It’s also very ad- hesive and it doesn’t fall off, so there are so many avenues for this material.” Highly stretchable, the material is said to stretch up to 400%, whereas human skin can stretch about 50%. The re- searchers recently published their findings in Materials Horizons. Web: www.engineering.utoron-


to.ca r


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