Modern technology is largely built upon the back of tiny electrical circuits connected together to form chips. These come in a variety of configurations, and can be found in all kinds of household appliances (from rice cookers to air conditioners), consumer electronics (laptops, smartphones, TVs), and products and services necessary to everyday life in an interconnected world (such as airplanes, trains, and cars).

Whatever the name - be that the humble 'chip', the slightly misleading 'microchip', the technically robust 'semiconductor integrated circuit', or the slightly less technically robust 'integrated circuit' - chips are everywhere; in laptops, mobile phones, TVs, automobiles, displays, and other electrical products a thousand times over.

Are you unsatisfied with the color reproduction of your smartphone camera? Would you like your phone or other household appliance to detect different materials or even assess the freshness of food? The emerging technology of miniaturized spectrometers and multispectral cameras holds the solution.

Thursday 16 February 2023 - During the webinar, Dr. Isabel Al-Dhahir will discuss: The motivation and applications for emerging image sensors, which span autonomous vehicles, drones, industrial quality control, and more; The current technological and commercial status of the emerging SWIR imaging technologies competing to replace InGaAs; Discussion of event-based vision and hyperspectral imaging; and Identification of market challenges

Wednesday 8 February 2023 - Technological Developments and Applications. Contents that will be covered in this webinar include: An overview of PIC technology; Drivers of increased data demands from data centres; PIC trends in the communications industry; and PIC adoption in other markets

The new IDTechEx report, "Emerging Image Sensor Technologies 2023-2033: Applications and Markets", explores a diverse range of image sensing technologies capable of resolutions and wavelength detection far beyond what is currently attainable.

Quantum Computers: What Are They and When Will They Create Commercial Value? In the last decade, the number of companies actively developing quantum computer hardware has quadrupled. In 2022 multiple funding rounds surpassing US$100 million have been closed, and the transition from lab-based toys to commercial products has begun.

As high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, and even consumers become increasingly data-hungry, hardware struggles to keep pace. In addition, the need for real-time assessments of moving data points - such as for the accurate velocity-mapping of other objects in autonomous systems and facial recognition for security systems - is crucial to an increasingly hands-free society.

IDTechEx have released a brand new report, "Quantum Computers 2023-2043". This report covers the hardware that promises a revolutionary approach to solving the world's unmet challenges.

While 5G mmWave has yet to take off, 6G research has already begun. But what exactly is 6G, and what are the emerging areas to watch?

What does good look like? Whether trying to predict World Cup results or assess the relative merits of emerging technologies, establishing a meaningful set of performance benchmarks is crucial but challenging.

With the innovation of lidar beam steering technologies, continuous lidar cost reduction, as well as the progress of Advanced Driving Assistance System (ADAS) and Autonomous vehicles (AV), lidars are embracing their potential $8.4 billion-dollar market by 2033.

Photovoltaics is the fastest-growing energy source. Of the thin film PV technologies, cadmium telluride (CdTe) dominates. It is largely concentrated within the US, where it accounts for 40 % of US utility-scale PV power. In recent years, the commercial efficiency of CdTe panels has been playing a catch-up game with conventional silicon and is currently trailing by ~3 %. Efficiency, however, is not the only deciding factor.

The true description of graphene is that of a single atomic layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal array. However, the nanocarbon material landscape is much more complicated than this simple statement, with single-layer, few-layer, multi-layer, graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and both graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) all to be considered as types of graphene.

Wednesday 19 October 2022 - Augmented and virtual reality devices are becoming established commercial products, but they have yet to meet their full promise of revolutionizing how we interact with computing. For this to happen, substantial hardware development needs to take place: but what are the key bottlenecks here?

On September 30th 2022, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke to Dutch news outlet Bright about the future of augmented reality (AR) and the metaverse. On AR, Cook was bullish, stating that it "won't be that long" until we look at life without AR as we now look back to a life before the internet or smartphone.

Is Graphene Green? This question comes up an increasing amount. Green drivers and ESG investments are an obvious focus across the supply chain, but where does graphene fit into this discussion? IDTechEx explore the answer in this article.

Virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (VR/AR/MR) devices promise to revolutionize the way we interact, acting as gateways to the metaverse. Despite these technologies already achieving limited adoption, extensive headset hardware development is required to meet the demands of becoming a ubiquitous computing platform.

Wednesday 5 October 2022 - The opportunities presented by thin film photovoltaics; Discussion of the barriers facing the commercialisation of thin film photovoltaics; Overview of emerging applications for thin film photovoltaics and readiness levels; and Roadmaps for the future of thin film photovoltaics