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Integrated electronics has come a long way since the invention of the transistor in 1947 and the fabrication of the first integrated circuit in 1958. Given feature sizes as small as a few nanometres, what will the future hold for integrated electronics?
Scientific research in Korean universities has developed rapidly in the past twenty years. However, the quality still lags behind other advanced countries, and Korea faces many challenges in building premier research universities.
Numerous prototypes of electric power devices based on high-temperature superconductors have been successfully demonstrated. Materials research over the next decade will improve cost-performance and accelerate commercialization.
Conducting scientific research in Korea has not always been easy. The country has made rapid progress in encouraging research, but how did it come to be able to hold its own on the world stage, and what could the future hold?
The increasing complexity of teaching and research poses significant challenges for public universities. The University of California, Berkeley, might provide a successful model for the 21st century.
Focusing a laser on the dirt covering a precious work of art may seem like a dangerous thing to do, but this unexpected technique has found a variety of cleaning applications. Analogies from other fields of materials science can provide guidance for its use, and model experiments ensure it doesn't all end in disaster.
Academic participation in nanomedicine research is welcomed by European industries. The recipe for success may or may not include creativity, but it will certainly require awareness of drug development and approval processes.
Organic materials can offer a low-cost alternative for printed electronics and flexible displays. However, research in these systems must exploit the differences — via molecular-level control of functionality — compared with inorganic electronics if they are to become commercially viable.
