Engineering

Latest Innovations
Antibacterial Polymeric Coatings Antibacterial Polymeric Coatings mimic the properties of cicada wings which allows them to induce bacterial necrosis mechanically by tearing the cell membrane. These... Read More Antibacterial Polymeric Coatings mimic the properties of cicada wings which allows them to induce bacterial necrosis mechanically by tearing the cell membrane. These polymer coatings are a broad-spectrum approach to limiting bio-fouling. Unlike conventional coatings these polymer coatings do not require the use of toxic chemicals or antibiotics which makes them ideal for use as coatings in medical device implants.
Defect Resistant Red LEDs Standard red LEDs suffer from rapid degradation and low efficiency, which becomes increasingly poor at smaller dimensions. Dr. Lee’s novel LED design integrates InP... Read More Standard red LEDs suffer from rapid degradation and low efficiency, which becomes increasingly poor at smaller dimensions. Dr. Lee’s novel LED design integrates InP quantum dots to overcome the deleterious sidewall recombination that reduces the performance of conventional red LEDs. This technology dramatically increases the defect tolerance of red LEDs, with devices showing comparable performance when grown on a range of surfaces including GaAs and GaAs/Si.
Eliminating Oxygen Vacancies in Thin-Film Metal Oxides through a Liquid Environment Dr. Seebauer from the University of Illinois has developed a method to eliminate oxygen vacancy defects in thin-film metal oxides. The novel method of a liquid environment... Read More Dr. Seebauer from the University of Illinois has developed a method to eliminate oxygen vacancy defects in thin-film metal oxides. The novel method of a liquid environment enables the improvement of these materials without involving a normally difficult manufacturing process. The process enables the control of oxygen vacancies to a certain depth and density. The removal of the defect allows for the metal oxide thin-film to have better photocatalytic properties. This could be useful for sensors and power devices which are a quickly growing market. The filled vacancies also affect subsequent redox reactions by inhibiting the transfer of electrons.
A Method for the Heterogeneous Integration of III-Nitride-based Materials for the Development of Optoelectronic Devices Professor Dallesassee and coworkers from the University of Illinois has developed a method for the heterogeneous integration of III-Nitride materials on various... Read More Professor Dallesassee and coworkers from the University of Illinois has developed a method for the heterogeneous integration of III-Nitride materials on various non-native substrates. This method uses a carrier wafer for the fabrication of the III-Nitride devices, which are then transferred to a host wafer and eutectically bonded. The method takes advantage of current tooling and allows for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices embedded into a CMOS platform for full electronic controls on a common substrate, such as silicon. These technique overcomes many of the limitations currently associated with the integration of III-Nitride materials such as their sub-par thermal performance, and the high costs associated with the handling and alignment of the III-Nitride devices onto the substrate.
Simultaneous 4-phase shifted full field optical coherence microscopy Professor Stephen Boppart and researchers from the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology have developed a method and apparatus for capturing four... Read More Professor Stephen Boppart and researchers from the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology have developed a method and apparatus for capturing four phase shifted interference patterns for instantaneous phase sensitive optical coherence tomography. This technique is a label free imaging technique with phase, polarization and spectroscopic sensitivity, while using incoherent illumination and capturing phase-shifted images in a single camera. It can be used as a commercial imaging system for imaging biomedical and biological samples, specifically for imaging cellular dynamics. In addition, the technique can also be used as a non-invasive diagnostic tool to assess and monitor diseases that alter optically accessible tissues (e.g. melanoma, skin diseases. This technique improves light-use efficiency, robustness and increases information content that can be extracted from images. Benefit Phase sensitive optical coherence tomographyis an imaging technique with phase, polarization and spectroscopic sensitivity, while using incoherent illumination and capturing phase-shifted images in single camera. Phase sensitive optical coherence tomography improves light-use efficiency, robustness and increases information content that can be extracted from images. Market Application This technique can be used as a commercial imaging system for imaging biomedical and biological samples, such as cells or tissues. Figure 1. Examples of imaging applications. Images a and c (insets zoomed in b and d) show an average amplitude, while b and c show: Dynamic OCM image calculated as variance of sequence of 50 phase images
Energy efficient intelligent structure for attitude control of satellite James Allison and researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a technology that provides fine pointing and large slew attitude control for... Read More James Allison and researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a technology that provides fine pointing and large slew attitude control for satellites and spacecraft with a power electronics driver circuit that improves the power efficiency of the system by at least one order of magnitude. The invention features a dedicated compliant actuator on a vehicle to produce the torques to achieve arbitrarily large rotations around all axis without the jitter limitation of other attitude control system. Primary application: accurate and precise attitude control for satellites/spacecraft Related Technology: 360 Degree Attitude Control of Satellites
Spontaneous Patterning during Frontal Polymerization Researchers from the University of Illinois developed a novel method to fabricate patterns on polymer substrate pDCPD and pCOD using frontal polymerization(FP). Unlike... Read More Researchers from the University of Illinois developed a novel method to fabricate patterns on polymer substrate pDCPD and pCOD using frontal polymerization(FP). Unlike traditional polymer manufacturing techniques, this technology does not rely on deterministic methods such as molds, inverse replicas. By introducing thermal instabilities, this invention generates patterns as the polymerization process takes place through FP with a significantly lower energy input and shorter curing process compared to the previously available technique. Notably, the patterning introduced in the polymer using this technology is not limited to the surface. It can also change the mechanical property of the polymer, specifically stiffness, opacity, and absorbance, to create volume patterning as well as color patterning. This technology can be utilized to introduce unique designs in various applications. Furthermore, it can potentially improve surface functionalities as well as the mechanical function of the polymer used in various products including automotive body panels, aerospace applications, protective films, construction material, and many more.
A Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer Using Thin-Film Lithium Niobate Professor Songbin Gong and researchers from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering have developed a design strategy and method for fabricating efficient... Read More Professor Songbin Gong and researchers from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering have developed a design strategy and method for fabricating efficient piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) optimizing both ultrasonic transmitter and receiver performance in a combined platform. Currently, there are two leading material types for pMUTs : ferroelectric perovskites with solid solutions containing PbTiO3, like PZT and PMN-PT (primarily used as transducers ) and the non-ferroelectric structures such as AlN (primarily used as sensors). This balanced ultrasonic transceiver can be implemented in miniature ultrasound applications, specifically in consumer electronics for gesture recognition, biometric sensing and occupancy sensing.
Miniature Mercury Lamp Researchers from the University of Illinois, along with their collaborators at Eden Park Illumination, have developed a new miniaturized lamp for uses in atomic clocks and... Read More Researchers from the University of Illinois, along with their collaborators at Eden Park Illumination, have developed a new miniaturized lamp for uses in atomic clocks and environmental sensors. These atomic clocks are highly useful in autonomous vehicles due to the precision and accuracy they provide. While most lamps use direct electron impact, this new lamp takes advantage of atomic excitation transfer to increase the efficiency of the lamp. This process reduces the size, and therefore the cost, of producing the lamp. Utilizing smaller lamps will allow for atomic clocks to be more easily integrated into commercial vehicles. Several iterations of the Hg+ lamp have been tested and can be made as small as 0.25 cm3.
New catalyst formulations for Frontal Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization (FROMP) Researchers at Illinois have developed new catalytic systems to perform FROMP. Large-scale, energy efficient industrial polymerization syntheses are accessed with FROMP.... Read More Researchers at Illinois have developed new catalytic systems to perform FROMP. Large-scale, energy efficient industrial polymerization syntheses are accessed with FROMP. So far, 2nd generation Grubbs catalyst has been extensively used for FROMP. Exploring new catalyst formulations resulted in polymers with varied mechanical properties and affected the polymerization process. These new formulations expand on previously developed synthesis to offer greater flexibility, tunability, and control of end products and the manufacturing process. Benefits: Energy efficient Short reaction times Resultant polymers with different mechanical properties Unusually flexible polymer Market Application: Varied applications including chlor-alkali production, automotive, construction industries Image shows swelling behavior of the resultant polymersusing new catalyst formulations.