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Intro to reed switches, magnets, magnetic fields

This brief introductory video on the DigiKey site offers tips for engineers designing with reed switches. Dr. Stephen Day, Ph.D. from Coto Technology gives a solid overview on reed switches -- complete with real-world application examples -- and a detailed explanation of how they react to magnetic fields.
View the video.

Bi-color LEDs to light up your designs

Created with engineers and OEMs in mind, SpectraBright Series SMD RGB and Bi-Color LEDs from Visual Communi-cations Company (VCC) deliver efficiency, design flexibility, and control for devices in a range of industries, including mil-aero, automated guided vehicles, EV charging stations, industrial, telecom, IoT/smart home, and medical. These 50,000-hr bi-color and RGB options save money and space on the HMI, communicating two or three operating modes in a single component.
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All about slip rings: How they work and their uses

Rotary Systems has put together a really nice basic primer on slip rings -- electrical collectors that carry a current from a stationary wire into a rotating device. Common uses are for power, proximity switches, strain gauges, video, and Ethernet signal transmission. This introduction also covers how to specify, assembly types, and interface requirements. Rotary Systems also manufactures rotary unions for fluid applications.
Read the overview.

Seifert thermoelectric coolers from AutomationDirect

Automation-Direct has added new high-quality and efficient stainless steel Seifert 340 BTU/H thermoelectric coolers with 120-V and 230-V power options. Thermoelectric coolers from Seifert use the Peltier Effect to create a temperature difference between the internal and ambient heat sinks, making internal air cooler while dissipating heat into the external environment. Fans assist the convective heat transfer from the heat sinks, which are optimized for maximum flow.
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EMI shielding honeycomb air vent panel design

Learn from the engineering experts at Parker how honeycomb air vent panels are used to help cool electronics with airflow while maintaining electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. Topics include: design features, cell size and thickness, platings and coatings, and a stacked design called OMNI CELL construction. These vents can be incorporated into enclosures where EMI radiation and susceptibility is a concern or where heat dissipation is necessary. Lots of good info.
Read the Parker blog.

What is 3D-MID? Molded parts with integrated electronics from HARTING

3D-MID (three-dimensional mechatronic integrated devices) technology combines electronic and mechanical functionalities into a single, 3D component. It replaces the traditional printed circuit board and opens up many new opportunities. It takes injection-molded parts and uses laser-direct structuring to etch areas of conductor structures, which are filled with a copper plating process to create very precise electronic circuits. HARTING, the technology's developer, says it's "Like a PCB, but 3D." Tons of possibilities.
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Loss-free conversion of 3D/CAD data

CT CoreTech-nologie has further developed its state-of-the-art CAD converter 3D_Evolution and is now introducing native interfaces for reading Solidedge and writing Nx and Solidworks files. It supports a wide range of formats such as Catia, Nx, Creo, Solidworks, Solidedge, Inventor, Step, and Jt, facilitating smooth interoperability between different systems and collaboration for engineers and designers in development environments with different CAD systems.
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Top 5 reasons for solder joint failure

Solder joint reliability is often a pain point in the design of an electronic system. According to Tyler Ferris at ANSYS, a wide variety of factors affect joint reliability, and any one of them can drastically reduce joint lifetime. Properly identifying and mitigating potential causes during the design and manufacturing process can prevent costly and difficult-to-solve problems later in a product lifecycle.
Read this informative ANSYS blog.

Advanced overtemp detection for EV battery packs

Littelfuse has introduced TTape, a ground-breaking over-temperature detection platform designed to transform the management of Li-ion battery systems. TTape helps vehicle systems monitor and manage premature cell aging effectively while reducing the risks associated with thermal runaway incidents. This solution is ideally suited for a wide range of applications, including automotive EV/HEVs, commercial vehicles, and energy storage systems.
Learn more.

Benchtop ionizer for hands-free static elimination

EXAIR's Varistat Benchtop Ionizer is the latest solution for neutralizing static on charged surfaces in industrial settings. Using ionizing technology, the Varistat provides a hands-free solution that requires no compressed air. Easily mounted on benchtops or machines, it is manually adjustable and perfect for processes needing comprehensive coverage such as part assembly, web cleaning, printing, and more.
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LED light bars from AutomationDirect

Automation-Direct adds CCEA TRACK-ALPHA-PRO series LED light bars to expand their offering of industrial LED fixtures. Their rugged industrial-grade anodized aluminum construction makes TRACKALPHA-PRO ideal for use with medium to large-size industrial machine tools and for use in wet environments. These 120 VAC-rated, high-power LED lights provide intense, uniform lighting, with up to a 4,600-lumen output (100 lumens per watt). They come with a standard bracket mount that allows for angle adjustments. Optional TACLIP mounts (sold separately) provide for extra sturdy, vibration-resistant installations.
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World's first metalens fisheye camera

2Pi Optics has begun commercial-ization of the first fisheye camera based on the company's proprietary metalens technology -- a breakthrough for electronics design engineers and product managers striving to miniaturize the tiny digital cameras used in advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), AR/VR, UAVs, robotics, and other industrial applications. This camera can operate at different wavelengths -- from visible, to near IR, to longer IR -- and is claimed to "outperform conventional refractive, wide-FOV optics in all areas: size, weight, performance, and cost."
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Orbex offers two fiber optic rotary joint solutions

Orbex Group announces its 700 Series of fiber optic rotary joint (FORJ) assemblies, supporting either single or multi-mode operation ideal for high-speed digital transmission over long distances. Wavelengths available are 1,310 or 1,550 nm. Applications include marine cable reels, wind turbines, robotics, and high-def video transmission. Both options feature an outer diameter of 7 mm for installation in tight spaces. Construction includes a stainless steel housing.
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Mini tunnel magneto-resistance effect sensors

Littelfuse has released its highly anticipated 54100 and 54140 mini Tunnel Magneto-Resistance (TMR) effect sensors, offering unmatched sensitivity and power efficiency. The key differentiator is their remarkable sensitivity and 100x improvement in power efficiency compared to Hall Effect sensors. They are well suited for applications in position and limit sensing, RPM measurement, brushless DC motor commutation, and more in various markets including appliances, home and building automation, and the industrial sectors.
Learn more.

Panasonic solar and EV components available from Newark

Newark has added Panasonic Industry's solar inverters and EV charging system components to their power portfolio. These best-in-class products help designers meet the growing global demand for sustainable and renewable energy mobility systems. Offerings include film capacitors, power inductors, anti-surge thick film chip resistors, graphite thermal interface materials, power relays, capacitors, and wireless modules.
Learn more.

New spin control method brings billion-qubit quantum chips closer

Multiple qubits can be controlled using the new "intrinsic spin-orbit EDSR" process. [Credit: Tony Melov/UNSW]

 

 

Engineers in Australia have discovered a new way of precisely controlling single electrons nestled in quantum dots that run logic gates. What's more, the new mechanism is less bulky and requires fewer parts, which could prove essential to making large-scale silicon quantum computers a reality.

The serendipitous discovery, made by engineers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney and the quantum computing startup Diraq, is detailed in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

"This was a completely new effect we'd never seen before, which we didn't quite understand at first," said lead author Dr. Will Gilbert, a quantum processor engineer at Diraq, a UNSW spin-off company based at its Sydney campus. "But it quickly became clear that this was a powerful new way of controlling spins in a quantum dot -- and that was super exciting."

Logic gates are the basic building block of all computation; they allow 'bits' -- or binary digits (0s and 1s) -- to work together to process information. However, a quantum bit (or qubit) exists in both of these states at once, a condition known as a "superposition." This allows a multitude of computation strategies -- some exponentially faster, some operating simultaneously -- that are beyond classical computers. Qubits themselves are made up of "quantum dots," tiny nanodevices that can trap one or a few electrons. Precise control of the electrons is necessary for computation to occur.

Using electric rather than magnetic fields
While experimenting with different geometrical combinations of devices just billionths of a meter in size that control quantum dots, along with various types of miniscule magnets and antennas that drive their operations, Dr. Tuomo Tanttu stumbled across a strange effect.

"I was trying to really accurately operate a two-qubit gate, iterating through a lot of different devices, slightly different geometries, different materials stacks, and different control techniques," recalls Tanttu, a measurement engineer at Diraq. "Then this strange peak popped up. It looked like the rate of rotation for one of the qubits was speeding up, which I'd never seen in four years of running these experiments."

What Tanttu had discovered, the engineers later realized, was a new way of manipulating the quantum state of a single qubit by using electric fields, rather than the magnetic fields they had been using previously. Since the discovery was made in 2020, the engineers have been perfecting the technique, which has become another tool in their arsenal to fulfil Diraq's ambition of building billions of qubits on a single chip.

"This is a new way to manipulate qubits, and it's less bulky to build -- you don't need to fabricate cobalt micro-magnets or an antenna right next to the qubits to generate the control effect," said Gilbert. "It removes the requirement of placing extra structures around each gate. So, there's less clutter."

Controlling single electrons without disturbing others nearby is essential for quantum information processing in silicon. There are two established methods: electron spin resonance (ESR) using an on-chip microwave antenna, and electric dipole spin resonance (EDSR), which relies on an induced gradient magnetic field. The newly discovered technique is known as "intrinsic spin-orbit EDSR."

"Normally, we design our microwave antennas to deliver purely magnetic fields," said Tanttu. "But this particular antenna design generated more of an electric field than we wanted -- and that turned out to be lucky, because we discovered a new effect we can use to manipulate qubits. That's serendipity for you."

Discovery brings silicon quantum computing closer
"This is a gem of a new mechanism, which just adds to the trove of proprietary technology we've developed over the past 20 years of research," said Prof. Andrew Dzurak, CEO and founder of Diraq, and a professor in Quantum Engineering at UNSW, who led the team that built the first quantum logic gate in silicon in 2015.

"It builds on our work to make quantum computing in silicon a reality, based on essentially the same semiconductor component technology as existing computer chips, rather than relying on exotic materials," he said. "Since it is based on the same CMOS technology as today's computer industry, our approach will make it easier and faster to scale up for commercial production and achieve our goal of fabricating billions of qubits on a single chip."

CMOS (or complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) is the fabrication process at the heart of modern computers. It is used for making all sorts of integrated circuit components including microprocessors, microcontrollers, memory chips, and other digital logic circuits, as well as analog circuits such as image sensors and data converters.

Building a quantum computer has been called the "space race of the 21st century" -- a difficult and ambitious challenge with the potential to deliver revolutionary tools for tackling otherwise impossible calculations, such as the design of complex drugs and advanced materials, or the rapid search of massive, unsorted databases.

"We often think of landing on the Moon as humanity's greatest technological marvel," said Dzurak. "But the truth is, today's CMOS chips -- with billions of operating devices integrated together to work like a symphony, and which you carry in your pocket -- that's an astounding technical achievement, and one that's revolutionized modern life. Quantum computing will be equally astonishing."

Source: University of New South Wales Sydney

Published February 2023

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