Reviews & Analysis

The shrinking dimensions, the increased structural complexity and the 3D stacking of silicon-based semiconductor devices are intensifying challenges in thermal dissipation. This Review explores thermal management materials, integration challenges and characterization methods, and proposes a road map for efficient heat dissipation solutions in 3D integration.

The growing interest in robotics in daily life has increased the demand for intuitive interfaces for human–robot interaction (HRI). This Review examines the potential, challenges and innovations of bio-signal analysis to enhance HRI and facilitate broader applications.

This Perspective sets out an approach to electron transport in nanoscale devices based on statistical fields — specifically the spatial and temporal variations in temperature and chemical potential that drive energy and particle flow — and highlights the importance of identifying the transport regime, which might be diffusive, ballistic or viscous.

This Review outlines the co-development of triboelectric nanogenerators and field-effect transistors into tribotronic transistors and droplet energy generators, which can harvest energy from small mechanical motion to power the Internet of Things.

Digitalization is increasing the cyber threat to microgrids. This Review discusses the vulnerabilities of cyber–physical microgrids and examines the cyberattack detection methods and mitigation strategies being developed to increase the cybersecurity of microgrid control.

Implantable bioresorbable electronic systems are revolutionizing precision medicine with real-time health monitoring, targeted interventions and biodegradability. This Perspective discusses architectural designs, key functional components, challenges and the transformative potential of sustainable electronics in patient-centred care.

Analogue in-memory computing (AIMC), with digital processing, forms a useful architecture for performant end-to-end execution of deep neural network models, but requires the development of sophisticated software stacks. This Perspective outlines the challenges in designing deep learning software stacks for AIMC-based accelerators, and suggests directions for future research.

This Perspective explores one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) low-dimensional low-symmetric (LDLS) semiconductors for use in polarization-sensitive photodetectors, focusing on their material properties, scalability and commercial applications in imaging, communication, navigation and computing from single device level to complex multifunctional arrays.

This Review discusses the integration of solar electric vehicles into energy systems, highlighting their potential to enhance energy efficiency, reduce emissions and support transport decarbonization through innovations in photovoltaics, batteries and energy management, while outlining key challenges and a roadmap for sustainable adoption.

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) facilitate the integration of green hydrogen and intermittent renewable energy into the energy and transport systems. This Review examines progress and challenges in increasing HFCV adoption and realizing sustainable energy and transport systems based on green hydrogen.

This Review explores Bi₂O₂Se as a promising 2D semiconductor for next-generation computing, highlighting its high mobility, suitable bandgap and native high-κ oxide, which enables wafer-scale integration and compatibility with industrial processes, while addressing key challenges in the lab-to-fab transition and proposing a roadmap for ultra-scaled, energy-efficient electronics.

Pain is a profound and unresolved health challenge, and current interventions are not sufficient for safe and effective pain management. Bioelectronics presents solutions for monitoring the symptoms of pain and treating these symptoms in a targeted manner.

Wearable bioelectronics integrates functional electronic devices with biological systems to enable real-time health monitoring and disease diagnosis. This Review explores advancements in three-dimensional manufacturing technologies for high-fidelity biosensors, addressing challenges related to fabrication, signal integrity, and long-term wearability.

Blind and partially sighted individuals face considerable challenges when interacting with digital information. This Perspective highlights important bottlenecks in information accessibility, design considerations for future wearable assistive devices and the outlook for improved access to and delivery of information in text and images.

Robot-assisted surgery relies heavily on vision and generally integrates medical imaging for diagnostic and/or navigation purposes with robots that offer accurate surgical functions. This Perspective discusses how large vision models can enhance vision-related tasks in robot-assisted surgery transforming ‘surgical robots’ into ‘robotic surgeons’.

Technology research is the driving force of the innovations that shape the world. Sony Group Corporation (Sony) and Nature partnered together to launch the Sony Women in Technology Award to recognize three outstanding early to mid-career researchers from the field of technology. Here, we interviewed the winners of the inaugural 2024 award on the inspirations behind their outstanding research.

This Review examines the optimization of electricity market design to support high renewable penetration, focusing on multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) for market simulations, performance evaluation and future research directions, with a case study on European market design under 100% renewable penetration.

Symbiotic energy paradigm for self-sustaining aerial robots includes multifunctional integration strategies and energy-saving mechanisms inspired by natural flyers. This Review outlines design principles, technological solutions, technical challenges and future directions of the application of the symbiotic energy paradigm to aerial robots.

This Perspective highlights the biofeedback capability of self-sustainable bioelectronics, which provides a new treatment paradigm. This feature enables cells and tissues to autonomously alter the supplied electrical stimulation to meet their varying needs, thereby forming a bidirectional interaction mechanism at organism–machine interfaces.

Ultra-low-power cryogenic complementary metal oxide semiconductor (cCMOS) technology is crucial for quantum computers. This Perspective highlights the challenges of the state-of-the-art technology and proposes solutions to mitigate band-tail effects, control the threshold voltage and achieve ultra-low-power cCMOS devices.