NEWSLETTER Top news Innovation Smart car windshields Leti sensors in full color EA-Leti researchers are working with Optys (a Nexter company) to improve smart car C windshield technology and get it ready for manufacturing. used in Smart windshields display information useful to drivers for an augmented-reality experience at the wheel. The helmet-based system in development includes both data acquisition and projection capabilities. Originally intended for military applications, the system could be of interest to the security, emergency response, and future construction markets. The researchers are currently working on an alternative to the monochromatic hologram system implemented for the research demonstrator that would enable full- color images and lower manufacturing costs. bio-artifi cial Contact: [email protected] Zero-energy elevators liver just over the horizon odimas, France’s leading elevator manufacturer, is The EU FP7 d-LIVER project aims to develop a bio- teaming up with Schneider Electric and Grenoble artifi cial liver (BAL) support system for patients S Institute of Technology to develop a smart-grid- connected elevator that is powered both by the grid and suffering from liver failure or awaiting a transplant. by alternative energy sources. The R&D is taking place The project, launched in 2011, brings together under the EU Arrowhead project. CEA-Leti is also involved in the project, supplying a a dozen partners, including CEA-Leti, which is virtual platform to coordinate communication between the elevator’s command-control system and a Schneider supplying sensors for the real-time monitoring of Electric energy optimization module. The system ammonium ions. leverages innovative web technologies to transfer the data required for operations while protecting the privacy of manufacturers’ other data. An initial demo on a virtual eti’s sensors are currently accurate to within 8% elevator was successful. A second demo, this time on a to 10%, and the goal is to bring that margin of real elevator, is planned for the project wrap-up in 2017. error down to 3% or 4%. At their present stage L Contact: [email protected] of development, the components off er the same level of manufacturability as commercially-available devices. In fi ve rounds of testing at Berlin, Germany’s Charité Hospital, including one last month, the device performed Nanowire-based transistors well. The measurements taken remained valid after three weeks—the lifespan of the liver cell culture used to make closing the gap with CMOS the BAL work. unnel-FET transistors off er leakage currents 100 The fi nal steps in assembling the sensors is completed to 1,000 times lower than those of MOS transistors, by hand by hospital staff —a particularly notable detail T making them serious candidates in the run for given the sensors’ stellar performance. Because the tomorrow’s very-low-energy applications. Until now, the sensors cannot be sterilized in one go without damaging transistors had been limited by their on-state currents, them, the parts must be sterilized individually and hand- which were much lower than for MOS transistors. CEA-Leti assembled at a sterile lab bench. CEA-Leti researchers researchers overcame this hurdle using nanowire technology. personally trained hospital staff in Berlin in both the At on-state currents of 760 µA/µm, nanowire-based transistors doubled the previous state of the art, delivering assembly and measurement tracking processes. close to the 1,000 µA/µm of traditional CMOS technology. The project partners will now run tests on pathological The new components feature opposite doping for the No. human serum to demonstrate the BAL’s capacity to drain and source, and the channel located under the 32 eff ectively remove toxins from human blood. If the grid is comprised of a 7-nanometer-diameter silicon- Dec. ’14 technology works, it could wind up in hospitals, where it germanium nanowire. Intel and Global Foundry are would be used just like today’s dialysis machines. taking part in the research under the EU Steeper project. Contact: [email protected] Contact: [email protected] NEWSLETTER Innovation Isotopic tracers provide insight Bacterial spores exhibit into brain tumors unusual resistance to UV rays ast fall Clinatec kicked off a two-year clinical trial on six patients suff ering from the he results of a team of INAC researchers’ DNA most serious form of brain tumor. An amino acid tracer is being administered to analyses of bacterial spores that spent 22 months L monitor certain proteins secreted in the patients’ blood—and provide valuable T on the walls of the International Space Station insight into tumor activity. have been published in Astrobiology. They found that The results will be used to identify which of the proteins would be useful as biomarkers in the number of damaged bases increased on par with determining how the tumor is developing and how it will respond to diff erent treatments. exposure to UV rays up to a certain threshold at which In addition, several hundred proteins circulating in the bloodstream and tumor will be the number of damaged bases actually decreased as assessed to identify new therapeutic targets. UV exposure continued to increase. Additional research on the ground will be carried out with scientists from Prior to the Clinatec trial, isotopic tracers had only been used once on proteins, by a team Germany to further explore the spores’ surprising UV of researchers in the US in a trial involving Alzheimer’s patients. resistance. Contact: [email protected] The research was part of the EU Expose project. The researchers from INAC, who study UV damage to DNA, posit that the UV-resistant spores are a dormant form of CO2 sensors could become bacteria of the utmost scientifi c importance. In extreme conditions, the spores can shut down all metabolic more energy-effi cient activity for hundreds of years. And they are also highly resistant to radiation. new infrared source that leverages a suspended silicon nitride membrane was Contact: [email protected] the key to CEA-Leti’s new energy-effi cient CO2 sensor, which uses six to seven A times less energy than current solutions and, with resolutions of a few parts per million by volume, meets the latest indoor and outdoor air quality standards. Plus, measurement times of under a minute make the sensor suitable for most applications. CEA-Leti’s sensor will give LED- and fi lament-based IR sources a run for their money in a fi eld where energy consumption is a crucial factor. The initial prototype was made using a 3D printer. The researchers will now focus on improvements like bringing in vacuum technology to further reduce energy consumption and integrating the IR source and detector on a single chip. Contact: [email protected] Microdisplays beat luminance records esearchers at a joint lab uniting CEA-Leti and Microoled are developing color OLED microdisplays that could achieve record luminance of 5,000 candelas per R square meter with both form factor and energy consumption well under those of LCD displays. The results of the EU FP7 SCOOP project (2011–2013) provided the cornerstone for this latest advance. Under the SCOOP project, CEA-Leti studied new color OLED and high-luminance architectures and an ultra-thin encapsulation layer able to withstand extreme conditions. The demonstrators produced at the end of the project performed well, bringing home excellent results in terms of colorimetry (with 100% coverage of the RGB triangle), lifespan (up to 1,500 hours at 85°C and 85% humidity), and, of course, luminance (3,000 candelas per square meter for an RGB display). Contact: [email protected] A close-up look at Learn more at: http://www.scoop-oled.eu 20,000 individual cells How sound travels through esearchers at INAC have successfully used a technique initially developed for molecular disordered materials R analysis to observe 10,000 to 20,000 cells at once. The advance hinges on using breakthrough optics to give esearchers from INAC and LiPhy (a CNRS-Grenoble University Joseph Fourier SPRi (surface plasmon resonance imaging) micrometer School joint research unit) joined forces to look at how sound travels through resolutions, even for large observation fi elds. The R disordered materials, with scenarios ranging from perfect crystal to amorphous researchers improved both the plasmon propagation materials. The simulation-based study, funded by the Fondation Nanosciences, showed length and image sensor, boosted the image cadence, that the propagation of sound waves is disrupted by defects just nanometers in size whose and corrected optical artefacts. mechanical response diff ers from that of the material as a whole. And more defects mean The next step will be to use their new version of SPRi that vibration-induced excited states have a harder time traveling through the material. to observe lymphocyte secretion—which in real-life Interestingly, the fi ndings also apply to heat transfer, a discovery that could help in the conditions involves just one out of every 1,000 cells—in design of better thermoelectric materials. The symmetry and order of the materials’ real time. By analyzing the phenomenon, researchers nanostructure could be optimized to more effi ciently carry electricity while minimizing hope to identify areas for future exploration in the transfer of heat. immunology. Contact: [email protected] Contact: [email protected] 2 No. 32 Dec. ’14 Innovation Figure of the month Watch nanostructured oxides €150,000 his year’s EDF Pulse Science and Electricity Award grow before your eyes went to Grenoble Institute of Technology faculty he MOON project, fi nanced by the French National Research Agency (ANR), will T member Renaud Bouchet for his research on a reach a major milestone in February, with a second round of testing on the promising new solid-electrolyte lithium battery.