2019 will be a big year for nanotechnology and microelectronics. This industry is on the rise and there is no way of stopping its growth around the world. The tendency to make devices smaller, more portable, lighter and more energy-efficient is directing the money flow to nanotechnology R&D. Read on as we unveil ICMN 2019 and the upcoming trends.

ICMN 2019 In Berlin

Every year a new incarnation of the ICMN takes place in a different city in the world. The International Conference on Microelectronics and Nanotechnology is to reunite the best, more cutting-edge people and companies in the market to talk about and decide the future of this ever-growing industry.

Content Is The King – Family Swap XXX

Main force pushing display technologies is obviously content. With decreasing importance of TV and continued trend of growing stream platforms you can be sure the future looks bright. Adult entertainment doesn’t want to stay in the back and have regrets and this is why companies likes Nubiles launch brand new products all the time.

Swap.Family - Videos from Family Swap XXX Series
Swap.Family – Videos from Family Swap XXX Series

Today it’s Family Swap XXX – a funny interpretation of neighbour family relationships. In this concept 4 families get together to mix between themselves and create a new one. While it might be confusing at first it’s really easy to grasp in the end. You will basically end with a foursome videos that leave you breathless. After all pair configuration options are endless, right?

The International Research Conference is an officially federated organization with the aim of bringing together all the best names and discuss the problems and possible solutions in this industry/business niche. The citation for this year is of two days on May 21st and 22nd and the chosen place is Berlin, Germany. It will be the place to be to find out about all the nuances, problems and possible solutions that the industry faces today as well as a great cross-over for interdisciplinary researchers, educators, and practitioners. From these discussions, trends will come out and very likely change the way we see the world in the near future.

Contributions To The ICMN 2019

Abstracts, papers, and e-posters are welcome from all prospective authors in the world. The ICMN 2019 committee will review all the incoming material and select the ones that can participate in the event on May 2019. The material submitted can have different shapes as well as different content. For example, the original (and unpublished) results of all kinds of empirical and experimental work, especially ones with detailed data, tables, figures, and results will be welcome. Also, the result of all kinds of theoretical and conceptual research deployed in the form of a paper, abstract or e-poster is welcome. All work submitted for the committee review has to be very deeply related to Microelectronics and Nanotechnology only.

Special Journal Issues

The work that generates the most impact in the conference as well as in the jury will be selected to be a part of the ICMN 2019 special issue of the Special Journey Issue. All the submitted work will participate in the selection and has the opportunity to be read by the jury but only those that generate the right impact will be selected. An important thing to mention is that the submitted papers must not be under consideration by any other publication or journal at the moment they are submitted to the ICMN 2019.

The editor in chief for the publication along with guest editors and peer review will be in charge of selecting the final texts for publishing. This final decision will be irrevocable and the selected full-text papers are to be published both online and on paper. It is not a minor achievement to be published by this prestigious publication, so make sure you send your texts in and also follow up on the issue release to take a deep look into the future.

The Future Is Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is right in the middle of mankind´s future. It is important to think that in the few past decades size has been a crucial aspect for most R&D done by the biggest companies. Nanotechnology has made possible things that we thought were from a science fiction film. That trend is, by no means, decreasing and the future of the world´s high-tech environment is looking smaller by the day. A big part of it has to do with entertainment and media devices being smaller, thinner, lighter and more portable. Another big part is playing a crucial role in medical appliances such as enhancement and disease cure for humans and animals.

Conclusion

The future is nanotechnology and nanotechnology is the future. For regular people, the impact we will be seeing in our life span will be significant but minimal; newer generations will not be able to conceive a world without the innovations of microelectronics and nanotechnology. The future of this industry looks as bright as the sun and so does the investment opportunities. The future is definitely nanotechnology.

Display technology such as LCD and other emerging ones came as a result of consistent research and experiments spanning several years to come up with what we have today. To remain relevant and maintain the competitive status in the market, manufacturers and other stakeholders are always engaging various enhancement methods for a better product.

In this article, a look at some of the experiments and researches into the application of LCD will be examined.

Liquid crystals have been discovered over a century now.

New Twists And Bends In LCD Research

Liquid crystals have been discovered over a century now. The structure of liquid crystal is still a misery and scientists are working frantically to unravel the mystery behind this substance that has changed display technology over the years. The latest discovery is the twist-bends that makes up the structure of liquid crystals.

Liquid crystals are in a state between solid and liquid but the molecules are in crystal like form. When viewed under the microscope, many different configurations of the crystals can be seen which includes a twist-bend molecular structure. This discovery which came in 2013 has opened up more room for further research.

By using an X-ray technique built in the U.S.A Department of Energy (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), the research team discovered the first measurement to confirm a firmly twisted spiral molecule formation that can be what is required to reveal the mystery behind the liquid crystal and to further improve on LCD display technology performance like the speed of switching between on and off. 

In the experiment, five LCD monitors were used.

Suitability Of Modern LCDs For Vision Research

In the experiment, five LCD monitors were used. Their spatial and temporal luminance characteristics were measured to find out if they can be used in place of cathode ray tube monitors. In the spatial test, the authors measured how luminance is changed across spatial position, repeated measurements, spatial context and viewing angle.

In the temporal test, the authors looked at how reliable the monitors can bring about luminance changes across successive frames. The temporal and spatial measurements are the already existing limitations of conventional LCDs and CRT monitors. But from the experiment, it shows that a few high-end gaming monitors were able to meet the temporal requirements of vision research and currently available monitors can be used in place of CRTs in experiments in the laboratory.

Liquid crystal display has brought a display type that will for long remain important display style.The future is still bright for the technology as more and more revelations are discovered on the usefulness of the crystal.

In recent times, LCD display technology has been used for classroom teaching. By connecting the LCD projector to a computer, a better view for students can be realized with LCD screen technology. Holding general meetings no longer requires a whiteboard and note taking by participants. With LCD screen touch technology made available by Sharp, a major manufacturer of the technology, you can have your company’s meetings and functions by utilizing the functionality of the LCD display technology in this 21st century.

There are lot other areas of use in our everyday life.

Here are some unconventional uses you may find in your neighborhood.

Fitness And Smart Band

In our very dynamic 21st century, the common trend today is the wearable and flexible technology that is always in the news. Smartband from sharp is a typical example of an improved technology in LCD.

The Smartband LCD uses only a negligible amount of energy, an amazing 1,000 times less energy consumption.

This kind of wearable is also common with the health sector for body organs and health monitoring purposes.

Embedding Into Contact Lens

The adoption of LCD technology in the optical field is one major impact in the 21 century in medicine. The LCD computer display is embedded in the device. This is a step in the right direction towards totally pixilated contact lenses.

The technology is expected to spread across from the medical to other related industries like cosmetics. With the development of flexible displays, curved LCD panels will make the implementation easier to achieve.  The currently applied LED lenses do not allow for full pixel display on the contact lens’ surface.

Gesture Recognition

Development in LCD screens allow for screen touch operation on computers without using a keyboard or a mouse. With interactive capability in computers, you can alter the status of objects by just making a move of the hands. This gives the LCD screen the ability to recognize what is right in front of it. With appropriate computer software installed, gesture recognition is a plus to make using your computer easier.

Planner Systems and Sharp are at the forefront of this technology.

 A Cooler With Inbuilt LCD

LCD display technology has application in some items we use for domestic convenience. A product named Liddup is a cooler that is designed with inbuilt LCD lights in it. The LCD light illuminates the content of the cooler for you to have a clearer view of the contents in it.

LCD Kiosk

LCD kiosk is another innovation and unconventional use of LCD in today’s modern world. The kiosk can serve as both a sales point and an advertisement channel for products.

Though it may be common in some regions, it still qualifies as a unique application of LCD display technology in the 21st century.

LCD display technology will continue to find its way into many applications that may ordinarily not be considered to be normal. With innovations, it is still a promising ground for LCD display technology to continue to gain prominence in various application areas.

International Microelectronics Olympiad of Armenia is a worldwide knowledge-focused contest that brings together the brightest students in the world who are under the age of 30 and who are actively involved in microelectronics. College and university students tend to be the focus of the contest.

The contests test students in series of exams in written form and in stages to have the best students emerging in the process.

Peradventure two students have the same highest score; an hour test will be conducted to pick out the finalist from the country. All tests are in written form.

The Stages Of The Exams

There are two stages of the exams. The first stage is conducted in the participating country of the student. After which the best student from the country is selected by using the highest score in the exam. Peradventure two students have the same highest score; an hour test will be conducted to pick out the finalist from the country. All tests are in written form.

The final stage takes place in Armenia and the student with the highest score for each participating country will be sponsored to Armenia to take part in the final stage of the contest.

Participating Countries

 The number of participating countries is usually limited to 30 countries. The eligible countries most times have been Argentina, Armenia, Belarus, Artsakh, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, China, Georgia, Germany, India, Israel, Hong Kong, Jordan, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Turkey, UAE, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Uruguay, Vietnam and USA.

Prize Categories

Though participants get a certificate of participation for taking part in the contest, prizes are awarded and the top prizes are as follows:

  • 1st Prize – Gold
  • 2nd prize – Silver
  • 3rd prize – Bronze

12th International Microelectronics Olympiad

This year, 2017, saw the 12th edition of the International Microelectronics Olympiad which was hosted by the Synopsys Armenia Education Department in Yerevan. The event which has 24 countries participating attracted 671 contestants from the countries. The Olympiad was organized in cooperation with IEEE (Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers) and TTTC (Test Technology Technical Council).

Topics Covered In The 2017 Edition

The scope of topics covered under the 2017 International Microelectronics Olympiad are digital Integrated circuit design and test, semiconductor technology and devices, automation, analog and mixed-signal design and IC design and test, and mathematics and algorithmic issues of electronic design automation (EDA).

The countries represented at this year’s event are Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Chile, Artsakh, China, Colombia, Georgia, Germany, Egypt, Hong Kong, Jordan, Peru, Iran, Philippines, Russia, Serbia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Ukraine, the United States, Uruguay, and Vietnam.

As usual, the first stage of the written tests was done locally in participants’ countries and the exams test just fundamental aspect of the field. The second stage comprises more difficult engineering tasks that require complex solutions.

The final stage which was under the watchful eyes of the host countries prime minister had 20 countries represented by 41 contestants qualifying for the exams at this stage. These are Armenia, Artsakh, China, Egypt, Brazil, Georgia, Germany, Jordan, Peru, Iran, Philippines, Russia, Serbia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Ukraine, USA, Uruguay, and Vietnam.

Some other major highlights were award of prizes to the winners of the Olympiad at a special ceremony at the Komitas Museum Institute.

These were the winners of the major prizes:

  • 1st prize or gold medal – Florin Burcea from Germany.
  • 2nd prize or silver medal – Akhsham Mahsa from the Islamic Republic of Iran.
  • 3rd prize or bronze medal – Kapralovic Katarina from Serbia.

The award presentation was later followed by a charitable reception and concert at the same venue.
Microelectronics is a fast growing field in the electronic world. Annual Olympiad such as the Armenia organized Olympiad is a step in the right direction to motive involvement in the field.

Now in the 21st century, image display takes different patterns and are increasingly changing with new developments.

The history line of display method started from the cathode ray tube.

Cathode Ray Technology

CRT (Cathode ray tube) is a big vacuum tube that is common with the bulky TV sets of the 20 century.

To display an image, CRT uses an electron beam which scans rows of phosphors line after line on the surface of the tube. The electron beam is deflected continuously.

Digital Light Processing (DLP) Technology

Texas Instruments invented and developed DLP for rear-projection TV displays. DLP uses a chip (Digital Micro-mirror Device) for its image display technique. DMD is made up of a number of tilt-able tiny mirrors.

Each micro-mirror stands for a pixel which tilts in a rapid motion.

A gray-scale type of image results here. Colors are added when light passes through the color wheel and reflect off the micro-mirror on the chip. This reflection is formed on the screen to produce the image.

Plasma Televisions use a technique just like CRT which makes images via phosphors lighting

Plasma Technology

The characteristics of this technology are the flat, thin and wall-mount capability that it presents. It was introduced in the early 2000s. In 2014, Panasonic, LG, and Samsung that were left in the production of this display mode have all discontinued its manufacture, though the products are still in use today.

Plasma Televisions use a technique just like CRT which makes images via phosphors lighting. In this case, the phosphors are lit by superheated gas and not electron beam.

They can be lit all at once, unlike CRT which does that in rows.

LCD is not limited to backlighting technology.

LCD Technology

LCD Technology is the most used display type in TVs. They share a thin design structure as Plasma TVs. For image display, phosphors are not lit up but turned on and off at a particular refresh rate. The most common refreshed rate of LCD TVs is 120 or 60 of a second. To display an image, the LCD’s pixels must be backlit. When the pixels are ON, they allow the backlight through but when off they don’t allow backlight through. The backlight system for LCD TVs can be from any source of HCL or CCFL (fluorescent) or LED.

LCD is not limited to backlighting technology. To improve LCD TVs color, quantum dot technology is a new development on LCD technology improvements.

After the release of Retina Display in 2010, enhancing screen resolution and quality of display has seen lots of changes on our smartphones, TVs, other handheld devices and wearable displays that is still new on the market. The adoption of this newfound display technology is no doubt an improvement on the conventional designs.

Most of the display applies quantum dot technology including highly bright reflectance and high ambient displays.

Integrating quantum dots into LCD backlight results in highly saturated and bright primary colors like those of OLED displays.

Impact Of Quantum Dot Technology On LCD

Quantum dot enhances to a great measure the performance of LCD display with the aid of quantum physics. Integrating quantum dots into LCD backlight results in highly saturated and bright primary colors like those of OLED displays.

Also, quantum dots enhance brightness and power efficiency by converting blue LED lights into a greatly saturated band of primary colors for the LCD display.

A good advantage of quantum dots is that it can bring out the exact colors for images that are extremely high and accurate picture colors without the white-point errors and lopsided color range. With the incoming of quantum dots technology, the future of LCD display technology is greatly enhanced to see many more years at least in the next five years. This outstanding technology is being adopted and integrated into many LCD smartphones, TVs, and other handheld devices.

Likewise, display quality is also improved by highly bright, low reflectance great ambient light displays. Every screen acts like a mirror that reflects everything that gets illuminated in front of it. Before this form of display technology was utilized, images produced were of low output and quality of degraded contrasts and interference that makes it difficult for viewing on the screen

Today’s technology adopted by manufacturers introduces bright and non-reflective displays.

OLED Technology

OLED is the most recent in display technology designed for consumers. It combines great features of past technologies. OLED technology uses various techniques in its implementation. LG uses the WRGB process. This process brings together white OLED’s pixels with green, red and blue color filters.

The speed of DC motor can be varied by applying various techniques. The drive system comprising the drive and the DC motor is vital to speed control in DC motor.

This is to regulate the amount of energy produced by the machine and the amount of work required to be done by the system at a given time duration.

The DC drive is a simple device that regulates the amount of electrical current sent to a DC motor.

DC Motors And Drives

The DC drive is a simple device that regulates the amount of electrical current sent to a DC motor. It supplies electrical energy in varying frequencies and quantities, hence controlling the speed of the electric motor.

The use of DC motor is increasingly growing in the metal industries, in mining, printing and in crane implementation. Though the current trend is the replacement of DC motors with more efficient AC drives, the task of getting this implemented is however not time and cost effective. Using the existing motor and improving on the drive is often the best option for industries.

DC drives provide great benefits to the DC motor such as control techniques, improved motor performance, system integration and reliability of the drive system which is a key component of DC motor speed control.

The speed of a DC motor can be varied by means of mechanical or electrical methods.

Speed Control Without Microcontroller

Designing and developing a circuit without a microcontroller integrated into it lowers costs and other downsides like the limited range in the circuit design.

Methods

The speed of a DC motor can be varied by means of mechanical or electrical methods. The use of a microcontroller for speed control is gradually fading away. The disadvantage of utilizing a microcontroller in system design is the somewhat large size of the implementation.

Using Direction Control And Microprocessors

Without using microcontroller, speed control can be achieved through direction control. This is done by reversing the input voltage terminals of the motor to have the required output of energy. Two-wheeler designs are often used to implement this method. Microprocessors are other devices used to achieve speed control in a DC motor.

In this approach, sensing the current and terminal voltage is implemented. This results in comparing the reference speed of the motor to its actual speed to generate an appropriate control signal which goes into the triggering unit to cause a required output.

Pulse Width Modulation Method

PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) is a technique for producing an analog signal using a digital source. A Pulse Width Modulation signal is made up of two components namely; the frequency and the duty circle. These describe the behavior of the signal.

The duty circle defines the quantity of time the signal is in ON (high) state. It is shown as a percentage of the period it takes to make a complete circle.

The frequency of the signal defines how fast a complete circle is completed by the PWM and hence how fast it switches between Low and High states. By cycling a signal at Low and High state at a fast rate with the specified amount of duty circle, the output’s behaviors can be compared to be a frequent voltage analog signal when sending energy to devices.

Pulse Width Modulation refers to the process of varying the duty cycle. This reduces the terminal voltage with a heat loss. 555 timer can be used to implement this technique. Double Pole Double Through (DPDT) switch can be used to change the direction of the voltage. A semiconductor-type H-bridge is preferable to implement this aspect of the design on speed regulation.

Factors Affecting The Speed Of Dc Motor

The operation of a DC motor is typically designed such that when a current carrying conductor is placed within a magnetic field, there is bound to be the mechanical force that goes through the conductors. A permanent magnetic DC motor, however, does not have field circuit. It has just the armature circuit. This differentiates it from other DC motors.

The factors affecting DC control are therefore:

  • The applied voltage
  • The flux
  • The voltage across an armature

Considering these factors, speed control can then be achieved through the following techniques:

  • Flux control method: This is done by varying the current via the field winding, thus altering the flux.
  • Rheostatic control: changing the armature route resistance which also changes the applied voltage across the armature.
  • Voltage method: changing the applied voltage