In the news

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Peide “Peter” Ye, the Richard J. and Mary Jo Schwartz Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering, has been chosen as the 2018 Arden L. Bement Jr. Award recipient. One of Purdue University’s top three research honors, the Bement Award is given for significant accomplishments in pure and applied science and engineering.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Surfaces that repel water can support efficient boiling if all air and vapor is removed from a system first, according to research featured on the cover of the most recent issue of Physical Review Letters

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Researchers at Purdue University and Stanford University believe they have found a novel laser light sensing technology that is more robust and less expensive than currently available with a wide range of uses, including a way to guide fully autonomous vehicles. The researchers say their innovation is orders of magnitude faster than conventional leading-edge laser beam steering devices that use phased antenna-array technology. The laser beam steering being tested and used by Purdue and Stanford is based on light-matter interaction between a silicon-based metasurface and short light pulses produced for example by a mode-locked laser with a frequency-comb spectrum. Such a beam-steering device can scan a large angle of view in nanoseconds or picoseconds compared with the microseconds current technology takes.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University researchers have demonstrated the ability of a thin film to conduct heat on just its surfaces, identifying a potential solution to overheating in electronic devices such as phones and computers. “When you try to make an electronic device, the heat dissipation is always a problem,” said Xianfan Xu, Purdue’s James J. and Carol L. Shuttleworth Professor of Mechanical Engineering. “So we are trying to provide an understanding of how heat can be dissipated in these future devices.”

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University is leading a new center to overcome the challenges of critical parts needed for low-power, high-performance computer chips in consumer electronics, vehicles and national security. The NEW LIMITS center is a three-year project supported by $4.5 million from a collaboration between the Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NEW LIMITS will be one of four centers in the SRC nanoelectronics Computing Research (nCORE) program, and the only center selected to receive NIST funding. The SRC consortium operates university research programs both in the U.S. and globally, connecting them with sponsors in the semiconductor research industry. NIST, a non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, advances measurement science, standards and technology to promote U.S. innovation and competitiveness. Purdue is working on the project with researchers from Pennsylvania State University, the University of Michigan, the University of Texas at Dallas and Stanford University.

"This whole industry is very much stuck in the '60s and '70s," said Drew Strongrich, a Ph.D. student in aeronautical and astronautical engineering. Strongrich spoke eagerly about his work as he walked around the room, pointing out various sensors and instruments. He is working on improving a technology known as "lyophilization." It refers to a freeze-drying process that is important for many pharmaceutical and food manufacturing applications. Removing water from various products can improve their shelf life. Water is traditionally removed from products by heating the product and evaporating water vapor. However, many products, including certain drugs and foods, cannot withstand the required heat, so another method is required.

Engineers make the fins of 14-nanometer FinFETs acoustically resonate to forge the building block of 5G oscillators, filters, and processor clocks Engineers at Purdue University and GlobalFoundries have gotten today’s most advanced transistors to vibrate at frequencies that could make 5G phones and other gadgets smaller and more energy efficient. The feat could also improve CPU clocks, make wearable radars, and one day form the basis of a new kind of computing. They presented their results today at the IEEE International Solid-States Circuits Conference, in San Francisco.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University researchers and industry leaders are teaming up to transform the freeze-drying process, formally known as lyophilization, used to make everything from lifesaving drugs and biotech products to foods. A consortium of researchers, industry members from pharmaceutical and food processing sectors, as well as equipment makers and others, are working together at the Advanced Lyophilization Technology Hub, or LyoHub, at Purdue to modernize a process that has not changed fundamentally in 70 years even though it has a worldwide annual market of about $16 billion.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Researchers are applying the same “hydrodynamic transport model” used to study flow in fluids to explain heat transport in a solid semiconductor, with potential implications for the design of high-speed transistors and lasers. Thermal imaging of tiny nanoscale semiconductor heat sources revealed details about vortices of heat-carrying objects called phonons.

A newly formed group of 10 counties has come together to become a national hub of agricultural and manufacturing innovation. The Wabash Heartland Innovation Network received a $38.9 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to help advance the Internet of Things. That's an interconnected network of sensors in agriculture and manufacturing sectors. This network is already being implemented. The data collected is being used to make better farming and manufacturing decisions. Purdue and Ivy Tech are at the forefront of research in this revolution.