WEST LAFAYETTE – If you want power, you lose battery life. If you want battery life, you lose power.
That’s the situation facing users of most electronic devices – and it’s also the dilemma for electronics manufacturers. Purdue University innovators have come up with an invention to help.
“Battery life technology, for the most part, has not been able to keep up with the other technology that requires the battery,” said Saeed Mohammadi, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue’s College of Engineering. “Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor [CMOS] is a battery-powered semiconductor chip inside computers and devices that stores information. CMOS requires a lot of power from the computer which, in turn, reduces the battery life.”
The Purdue researchers developed a new, custom logic family that can be used to reduce the power needed by the CMOS. This new technology can run with a power supply down to near-threshold or sub-threshold levels. This will reduce the energy used by the CMOS.
John Lynch, who developed the technology as a graduate research assistant in Mohammadi’s lab, said, “I saw a need for a way to reduce the power required by the CMOS, which is the technology used in nearly all electronics. Our invention offers more efficient options than the current technology, and it reduces the power needed for the CMOS. This is particularly important as the world uses more electronic devices that are processing large amounts of data.”
The innovators worked with the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization to patent the technology.
The innovators are looking for partners to continue developing and commercializing their technology. For more information on licensing and other opportunities, contact Matt Halladay of OTC at mrhalladay@prf.org and mention track code 2017-MOHA-67766.
About Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization
The Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university’s academic activities through commercializing, licensing, and protecting Purdue intellectual property. The office is housed in the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration in Discovery Park District, adjacent to the Purdue campus. In the fiscal year 2020, the office reported 148 deals finalized with 225 technologies signed, 408 disclosures received and 180 issued U.S. patents. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2019 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Place from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. In 2020, IPWatchdog Institute ranked Purdue third nationally in startup creation and in the top 20 for patents. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Contact otcip@prf.org for more information.
