Volume 2 Issue 2, February 2019

Kenneth C. Smith, Anantha P. Chandrakasan and Laura C. Fujino, senior chairs of the 2019 International Solid-State Circuits Conference, tell Nature Electronics about the past, present and future of the meeting, which takes place in San Francisco in February.

A new generation of ethical standards in robotics and artificial intelligence is emerging as a direct response to a growing awareness of the ethical, legal and societal impacts of the fields. But what exactly are these ethical standards and how do they differ from conventional standards?

A lateral heterojunction diode can be formed in a homogeneous monolayer of MoS₂ by using a substrate with different dielectric properties.

Reliable memristive devices in which switching is based solely on electronic effects can be created from amorphous silicon by doping with oxygen and nitrogen.

Electronic skins that are able to restore their function when damaged in aquatic conditions could be used to create durable underwater soft robots.

A lateral heterojunction with diode-like electrical transport can be created in a homogeneous MoS₂ monolayer by using a substrate in which one segment is made from an amorphous fluoropolymer and another segment from hexagonal boron nitride.

Amorphous silicon compositions, which are doped with oxygen or nitrogen and sandwiched between metal electrodes, can be used to create purely electronic memristors with switching capabilities that are fast, uniform, durable, multi-state and low power.

A transparent electronic skin, composed of an elastomer and an ionic liquid, can autonomously self-heal in both dry and wet conditions due to ion–dipole interactions.

Intel’s Pentium microprocessors have been a feature of computers for over 25 years. Robert P. Colwell, lead designer of the microarchitecture used in the Pentium Pro and beyond, recounts how it all began.