Author Archives: Walt

About Walt

I have been involved in various aspects of nanotechnology since the late 1970s. My interest in promoting nano-safety began in 2006 and produced a white paper in 2007 explaining the four pillars of nano-safety. I am a technology futurist and is currently focused on nanoelectronics, single digit nanomaterials, and 3D printing at the nanoscale. My experience includes three startups, two of which I founded, 13 years at SEMATECH, where I was a Senior Fellow of the technical staff when I left, and 12 years at General Electric with nine of them on corporate staff. I have a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, an MBA from James Madison University, and a B.S. in Physics from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Technical Workforce Concerns

There is an indication of the need for additional workers in the technical Workforce.  SEMI [Ref. 1] has indicated there is a shortage of 80,000 to 100,000 semiconductor [..]

Nanotechnology, Semiconductor Technology, Technology

Technology Direction May Change Over Time

There are times when there is an established technology that undergoes a modification.  There are also times when different technology approaches compete.  In the early days of distributed [..]

Technology

More AI Concerns

Last year, the November blog mentioned some of the challenges with Generative Artificial Intelligence (genAI).  The tools that are becoming available still need to learn from some existing [..]

Technology

Two-Dimensional Meta-Materials

The term meta-materials refers to materials that are created by producing material structures that do not occur in nature and also can be created with structural complexity that [..]

Nanotechnology, Semiconductor Technology

Scientific/Medical Integrity and the Future

Over the years, we have witnessed the issues or multiple peer-reviewed papers being recalled.  A recent example as reported in numerous places, Reference 1 states: “The Dana-Farber Cancer [..]

Science

Year end Wrap-up

The most popular technical/computer topic at the end of 2023 was Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), which was briefly touched on in last month’s blog.  As 2023 draws to [..]

Semiconductor Technology, Technology

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Science

Artificial Inelegance (AI) seems to be in the news with promises of a tremendous amount of benefits for the average person.  Specifically, “Generative AI” will be the foundation [..]

Science

Analog & Digital – Part II

Today’s electronics are based on the transistor, which can be switched either on (a one) or off (a zero).  Among other things, the sounds coming from musical instruments [..]

Technology

Analog & Digital – Part I

There is no question that we live in a digital world.  What does that mean?  Is there another world?  What is the difference?  We live in a world [..]

Technology

Power Challenges for Greater Computing

As mentioned in previous blogs [Ref. 1] the power consumption to manufacture semiconductors has raised concern.  The International Roadmap for Devices and Systems (IRDS) [Ref. 2] has been [..]

Semiconductor Technology