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nice interview

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Nanotechnology is the new frontier of scientific research. President APJ Abdul Kalam is advocating new initiative on the research in the field of nanotechnology. As Prof. CNR Rao, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister, said recently: 'We missed the semiconductor revolution in the early 1950s. We had just gained independence. But with nanoscience and technology, we can certainly be on an equal footing with the rest of the world.' In its December 2006 issue, the Scientific American magazine published a list of 2006 Scientific American top 50 awards . The award lists the top 50 people in the field of research, business and policy making, who have influenced the world. Pulickel Madhavapanicker Ajayan, the Henri Burlage Professor of Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Research) , Troy, New York, is among this list of top 50. He graduated in metallurgical engineering in 1985 from the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IT-BHU)...

postponed... :-(

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/15323.html Chennai, October 24: Semindia Fab is postponing its proposed $3 billion investment to set up India's first chip manufacturing plant as it was unable to agree with the government on financial support to the unit's shareholding. Instead, it will set up a smaller facility for assembly, testing, manufacturing and packaging of memory chips (ATMC) next year, and review investment plans once a more favourable policy is announced by the Centre.

whats up with fab city ?

Uncertainties.... this sep 19 news tells us- be satisfied with the ATPM phase for now... hey, how many of that have we seen ?! http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1054040 And then, hopes back again, with this Oct 3 noose http://www.hindu.com/2006/10/04/stories/2006100411560100.htm Amidst accusations from, Oh well, the communists http://pd.cpim.org/2006/1022/10222006_ap.htm Me still have those fingers crossed....... and by the way, I heard a news (guess??) that AMD at present is busy figuring out if it wants to start a fab facility in NY (state) or not... and so isn't pushing as much for its India project... -------------------------------------------------- Meantime, if this is to be believed, good news on the "Universities catching up" front (hot news, just came out a few hrs before this posting) http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=144210 Europe’s largest independent research centre in nanotechnology and nanoelectronics is bullish on joint ...

QC and UFO

UFO applied in QC .... and no UFO is not "unidentifiable....." I mean ultrafastoptics http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/313/5785/341 The fast dephasing of electron spins in an ensemble of quantum dots is detrimental for applications in quantum information processing. We show here that dephasing can be overcome by using a periodic train of light pulses to synchronize the phases of the precessing spins, and we demonstrate this effect in an ensemble of singly charged (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots. This mode locking leads to constructive interference of contributions to Faraday rotation and presents potential applications based on robust quantum coherence within an ensemble of dots.

nanograss !!

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http://www.mphasetech.com/assets/images/nanograss10u.JPG nanotech batteries : http://www.mphasetech.com/html/nanotechnology.htm The image is a representative example of “nanograss” tubes. These tubes provide a “Superhydrophobic NanoStructured Surface” atop of which can be placed a droplet. The droplet sits above the tubes with little or no interaction with the tubes themselves. But by careful engineering the droplet can be made to fall within the space between the tubes encountering a greatly increased surface area and interacting with the tubes themselves to causing current to flow.. The drop can be engineered to occur upon a variety of stimuli: voltage, RF and/or others. Also see http://www.21stcentury.co.uk/technology/nanograss.asp

sc policy..

http://www.asianage.com/?sam=2:1:235:229571&headline=Semiconductor~policy~soon:~Maran Hyderabad, June 7: Union minister for communications and information technology, Dayanidhi Maran, said on Wednesday, that the government will be announcing its policy for the semiconductor industry in the next two weeks, even as work on India’s first semiconductor fabrication complex is expected to be launched later this month. SemIndia Fab, the company building the project, will begin the construction of a semiconductor testing and assembly unit, at an estimated cost of $100 million, Mr Vinod Agarwal, chairman and CEO of SemIndia Fab, said. The semiconductor complex is eventually estimated to cost $3 billion. ......... Mr Maran said the government was finalising the semiconductor policy keeping in mind that India could be the hub for the industry because of the increasing need for semiconductor chips in the domestic market. Asked whether the government would be investing in the equity of SemIndia...

nanotube brushes

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Source: Nature See the interesting news at http://starbulletin.com/2006/05/15/news/story06.html Pulickel Ajayan is of course quite a familiar name... looks like another Malayali is all set to make his mark.. or he has already ? Vinod P Vadakkeveedu - Guinness record holder for the smallest nanotube brushes Guess you can't just brush aside this one :-) . Quite an impressive record http://www2.hawaii.edu/~vinodpv/index.html So may be not only does nanoindia inc has a future, nanomalayali inc too... !!

Colorful nano-optics

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Chanced uopn this "colorful" article. Actually my aim is to prevent spectral broadening (in my M-L lasers), and this one's on spectral broadening (something that they call "super continuum generation") . Oh yeah, the grass seems to be colorful on the other side :-) http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/ugrad/tsp/images/LindeeWong.pdf

whither optical computers !

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Its quite common these days to come across talks and papers that talk about "photons replacing electrons" in computation and communication Coming from an ex-nanoelectronics background, and now rooted in a micro-ultrafast-optics {well , I can stretch my field into the nano regime by claiming that my Bragg gratings are in nms... 100s of nms that is :-) } , I obviously cannot be biased towards either of them, you see.. And yet, I must say that optics have a looooong way to catch up ... eventhough terms like nanolasers and nanooptics are freely floating around... to be able to challenge the "conventional" (Oh, well "traditional" may be) electron based (either Si or even III-V) ones will be quite a challenge ... how much ever you talk about improved switching speeds and stuff ... Neways, here's a nice article that I came across... once more, optimistically loyal to the field http://www.ece.northwestern.edu/~sth/SA.pdf 7 years have passed ever since that one...

IN(tel) !

So, finally, they are in, but playing it a bit safer.. starting off as tech-partner and equity-holder .. http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu1&leftindx=1&lselect=1&chklogin=N&autono=220616 Moving closer to signing a deal with June Min-promoted Nano-Tech Silicon India (NTSI) Ltd for the proposed fab facility in Hyderabad, both as a technology partner and an equity-holder and also see http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=122449 Just wonder, why din't we have this kinna talk a few years before ?!.. O well, everything has its time, I guess

pick of the day

http://www.rediff.com/login/redirect.php?url=/money/2006/mar/25chip.htm%3Fq%3Dbp%26file%3D.htm&tz=300 Chipmakers to get sopsGaurie Mishra in New Delhi March 25, 2006 04:22 IST Semiconductor manufacturing facilities with an investment of at least $1 billion in India will be entitled to financial support from the government either in the form of equity support or concession loans. This proposal, one of the many in the draft semiconductor policy prepared by the department of information technology, also provides for a 15-year tax break to manufacturers. While the tax exemptions will be 100 per cent for the first ten years, they will be extended for another five years if the units plough back profits. "The draft policy on semiconductors has been finalised by the department of IT and will soon be sent to a high-powered committee of several ministries. The proposed policy allows manufacturers to avail of government support only after they provide a minimum support of $1 billion for...

Ha(hy)ppening ?

World Nano-Economic Congress India March 27-29, 2006Hyatt Regency, Mumbai, India http://www.world-nano.com/india The World Nano-Economic Congress (WNEC) Comes to IndiaThe reasons for the WNEC coming to India are enormous. With the Indian stock market hitting record highs, an annual productionof engineering graduates five times higher than the United States,and industries from textiles to automotive already taking advantageof nanotechnologies for both domestic and export markets, India is poised to be one of the 21st Century's nanotech winners.The WNEC India represents the first opportunity to attend a business-focused conference with an international scope on the nanotech-nology developments in India. With an Agenda that offers Tracked Sessions on the Industries thatare most active in adopting nanotechnologies into their products,you will get the most effective look how nanotechnology is enablingIndia industry and meet the players in India that are making this revolution happen.

for its sake !

India thinks big about nanotechnology http://ia.rediff.com/money/2006/mar/17nano.htm?q=tp&file=.htm A bit off track, but.. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5967_1649045,001600060004.htm Meantime... http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2006/march15/win-031506.html The UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, the University of California-Santa Barbara, the University of California-Berkeley and Stanford are teaming up to launch what will be one of the world's largest joint research programs focusing on the pioneering technology called "spintronics." The $18.2 million includes $2.38 million from a Nanoelectronics Research Initiative grant funded by six major semiconductor companies—Intel, IBM, Texas Instruments, AMD, Freescale and MICRON. The usual suspects !

News as always...

Kalam wants "Made in India" nanoproducts !! He remains a man of larger vision, and dreams Fab city: first phase by 2008; second by 2010 ..... The MoU was signed, I believe on Feb 19 As I said, the pampering for the baby has already started - Krishna water, Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) - nothing wrong in all those, but there is a saying in Mallu "Theeyil Kuruthathu Veyilathu Vaadilla" . That which is born in fire, will not get affected by a hot sun.. Also, I hope, sincerely, that they don't expect the golden egg that soon....

Fab-in-India : what does it mean ?

Background Year 2000 : Dr V.K Aatre, the then head of DRDO was giving a talk at IITMadras. Among many things, one point stood out. "India's future lies in being able to develop hardware at home, especialy device fabrication. Even for Power transistors India is needing to have to depend on imports. My hope is in you, the future generation..... " Year 2001: One of those days, when I had a friendly chat with my BTech project guide at IITM, Dr K N Bhat. My question was simple. What are the current and future chances of fab in India. He briefed me about how IITM, IGCAR, ITI Bangalore, DRDO and a few other players collaborate to make some basic chips. Looking forward, he was hopeful about the technolgy village (??) that was predicted to come up in Thoothukudi.. By the time you finish your PhD, they would be ready to take the first batch of students .. and in total 15 years, they would complete the three stages of development For some one who had somewhere at that time that the ...

Gud news

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4698026.stm The Indian government has authorised the country's first micro-processors and silicon chips manufacturing facility for the IT industry. The $3bn project will be based in the southern city of Hyderabad and is expected to create 10,000 new jobs. The project is important for India, as despite being a leading global player in the IT sector, it has to import key components of computer hardware. Experts say that by 2015, India's IT sector will be worth $22.6bn. 'Fab City' It was a close race between the country's two leading hi-tech cities - Hyderabad and what is known as India's Silicon capital, Bangalore. Bangalore has become the IT-hub in India As part of the $3bn project, 20 micro-processor and silicon chip manufacturing units for the IT industry will be set up, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, told reporters. He said that the new project, called Fab City, would be developed on a 1,200 acres...

CNR Rao on nanotech in India

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=346054 India cannot afford to miss revolution in nanotechnology: Rao
More Drama !! Yes-No-Yes-No ???? Finally it lased ? Well, at first it was the problem with the microscope. That fixed it was with the wrong path settings in the matlab program. That also fixed, the issue was with some data buffering up when the matlab program exits without closing the instruments ..... All fixed, it finally gave the beautiful lasing L-I curve.. Hopefully I have maintained my high yield :-) .. So without all the uncertainty, whats the joy in the final result ?! The saying goes that in the fabrication world, if you estimated n days to complete a work, be prepared for atleast 2n days !! In the measurement world, shall I say 3n days ? .. No no, I am just getting better at this, so shud I believe (after all, I did the LASER5 in about 10 days, never mind the nite outs, when even Chris says it would take 'im 2 weeks if he slogs like crazy).. and today when I learned much about that box-car inetgrator ... why on earth do they call it so...