MEMS-based circuits keep working despite irradiation | Electronics News

MEMS-based circuits keep working despite irradiation: RESEARCHERS with the University of Utah have designed ultr...

RESEARCHERS with the University of Utah have designed ultra-tough microscopic mechanical devices which keep working despite radioactive abuse. According to the engineers, the devices can withstand intense radiation and heat, so they can be used in circuits which are exposed to radiation in space, damaged nuclear power plants or nuclear attack. The researchers dipped the devices into the core of the University of Utah’s research reactor for two hours, and subjected them to intense ionising radiation, but they kept working. Simple circuits could also be built with the devices. Ionising radiation can very quickly destroy modern electronic circuits, so robots navigating into nuclear disaster zones (such as Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plants which were damaged in 2011) or used in space require heavy shielding. Even so, the radiation eventually destroys the electronics. Elec...

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