For decades, atomic clocks have provided the most stable means of timekeeping. They measure time by oscillating in step with the resonant frequency of atoms, a method so accurate that it serves as the basis for the definition of a second. Now, a new challenger has emerged in the timekeeping arena. Researchers recently developed a tiny, MEMS-based clock that makes use of silicon doping to gain record stability. After running for eight hours, the clock only deviated by 102 nanoseconds, approaching the standard of atomic clocks while both requiring less physical space and less power to run. Doing so has been a challenge in the past because of the chaos that even slight temperature variations can introduce into timekeeping. The group presented their new clock at the 71st Annual IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting last week.Saving Space and Power The MEMS clock is built from a few tightly connected parts, all integrated on a chip smaller than the face of a sugar cube. At its center, a silicon plate topped with a piezoelectric film vibrates at its natural frequencies, while nearby electronic circuitry measures those vibrations. A tiny, built-in heater gently keeps the whole structure at an optimal temperature. Because the resonator, electronics, and heater are all close together, they can work as a coordinated system: the resonator creates the timing signal, the electronics monitor and adjust it, and the heater prevents temperature swings from causing drift. This clock is unique in a few ways, explains project advisor and University of Michigan MEMS engineer Roozbeh Tabrizian. For one, the resonator is “extremely stable amid variations in environment,” he says. “You could actually change the temperature from minus 40 °C all the way to 85 °C and you essentially don’t see any change in the frequency.” The resonator is so stable because the silicon from which it’s crafted has been doped with phosphorus, Tabrizian says. When a material is doped, impurities are added into it, typically to change its conductive properties. Here, though, the group used doping specifically to stabilize mechanical properties. “We’re controlling the mechanics in a very tight way so that the elasticity of the material does not change upon temperature variations,” he says. Some other materials, like the commonly used timing crystal quartz, can also be doped for robustness. But “you cannot miniaturize [quartz] and you have a lot of limitations in terms of packaging,” Tabrizian explains. “Semiconductor manufacturing benefits from size miniaturization,” so it is an obvious choice for next-generation clocks. The doping also allows the electronics to actively tune out any small drifts in frequency over long periods. This attribute is “the most distinctive aspect of our device physics compared to previous MEMS clocks,” Tabrizian says. By making the silicon conductive, the doping lets the electronics subtly adjust how strongly the device is mechanically driven, which counteracts slow shifts in frequency. This system is also unique in its integration of autonomous temperature sensing and adjustment, says Banafsheh Jabbari, a graduate student at the University of Michigan who led the project. “This clock resonator is operating in two modes [or, resonant frequencies], essentially. The main mode of the clock is very stable and we use it as the [time] reference. The other one is the temperature sensor.” The latter acts like an internal thermometer, helping the electronics automatically detect temperature shifts and adjust both the heater and the main timing mode itself. This built-in self-correction helps the clock maintain steady time even as the surrounding environment changes. These features mean that it’s the first MEMS clock to run for eight hours and only deviate by 102 billionths of a second. Linearly scaled up to a week of operation, that equates to just over 2 microseconds of drift. That’s worse than the top-of-the-line laboratory atomic clocks by a few orders of magnitude, but it rivals the stability of miniaturized atomic clocks. What’s more, the MEMS clock has a significant space and power savings advantage over its atomic competition. The more isolated from their environments and the more power they use, the more precisely atomic clocks can probe the oscillations of atoms, Tabrizian explains, so they’re typically the size of a cabinet and draw a lot of power. Even chip-scale atomic clocks are 10 to 100 times larger than the MEMS clock, he says. And, “more importantly,” this new clock requires 1/10th to 1/20th the power of the mini atomic clocks.Timekeeping for Next-Gen Tech Jabbari’s work came out of a DARPA project with the goal of making a clock that could operate for a week and only deviate by 1 µs, so there’s still more to be done. One challenge the team faces is how the doped silicon will behave over longer operating periods, like a week. “You see some diffusion and some changes in the material,” Tabrizian says, but only time will tell how well the silicon will hold up. It’s important to both researchers that they continue their efforts because of the wide-ranging applications they foresee for a small, power efficient MEMS-based clock. “Essentially all modern technology that we have needs some sort of synchronization,” Jabbari says, and she thinks the clock could fill gaps in time synchronization that currently exist. For situations in which technology has robust access to GPS satellites, there’s no problem to solve, she says. But in more extreme scenarios, like space exploration and underwater missions, navigation technology is forced to rely on internal timekeeping—which must be extremely bulky and power hungry to be accurate. A MEMS clock could be a small and less power intensive replacement. There are also more day-to-day applications, Tabrizian says. In the future, when more information will need to be delivered faster to each phone (or whatever devices we’ll be using in 50 years), accurate timing will become crucial for data packet delivery. “And, of course, you cannot put a large atomic clock in your phone. You cannot consume that much power,” he says, so a MEMS clock could be the answer. Even with promising applications, it could be a tough road ahead for this project because of existing competition. SiTime, a company already producing MEMS clocks, has already integrated its chips in Apple and Nvidia devices. But Tabrizian is confident about his team’s capabilities. “Companies like SiTime put a lot of emphasis on system design,” thus increasing system complexity, he says. “Our solution, on the other hand, is entirely physics based, looking into the very intricate, very fundamental physics of a semiconductor. We’re trying to get around the need for a complex system by making the resonator 100 times more accurate than the SiTime resonator.”

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The influential progressive third party announced Thursday that it was putting out a recruitment call for candidates specifically opposed to data centers.

This article is crossposted from IEEE Spectrum’s careers newsletter. Sign up now to get insider tips, expert advice, and practical strategies, written in partnership with tech career development company Taro and delivered to your inbox for free!Don’t squander the reverse interview At the end of every job interview, you will get asked, “Do you have any questions for me?” There is only one correct answer here: yes! You absolutely should have questions for the interviewer, for two reasons: You gain valuable insights about life at the company.It signals that you are a curious and thoughtful job seeker. But not all questions are created equal. Here’s what to keep in mind for the 5 to 10 minute reverse interview at the end of each job interview. First, what not to do: Don’t ask about the interviewer’s favorite flavor of coffee in the microkitchen—at least not as your first question! Your questions should demonstrate a thoughtful consideration of the job’s responsibilities, rather than a frivolous detail about a perk. The best question reveals an understanding of the company’s future, your future, and how those two paths could mutually benefit each other. Some examples: Mentioning a concern or idea you had based on a recent launch the company had, and asking if the company has considered it.Sharing a specific characteristic about your working style, and asking how it could benefit the team or your career at the company. A template for good interviewer questions doesn’t exist because the questions are inherently unique to the company, your role, and your background. However, here are some general ideas for inspiration: “What is the biggest challenge facing the company in the next 6 months?” By asking about problems, you show that you care about the company and its future. You want to bring your experience to overcome these challenges.“What’s the best thing that you have learned at this company?” This is a much better version of the “favorite coffee” question. You can and should ask the interviewer about their lived experience, but with a focus on growth: How can the company help you learn and grow as an engineer? —RahulFor This Engineer, Taking Deep Dives is Part of the Job Levi Unema doesn’t work in a typical office setting. Rather, the engineer spends weeks at a time in the open ocean, maintaining and piloting remotely operated vehicles aboard ships exploring the seas. But, when he first started his engineering career, Unema didn’t think he would work on underwater robotics—until his high-school science teacher gave him an unexpected call. Read more here.The 10 Most In-demand U.K. Tech Careers of 2026 The United Kingdom’s technology sector is the largest in Europe. But what roles will define the U.K. tech workforce in 2026? The London School of Economics and Political Science ranked the 10 most in-demand jobs, noting the demand, job satisfaction, and salary for each role. One key takeaway: “By 2026, the most sought-after professionals will combine AI literacy and data analytics with human problem-solving, working confidently alongside intelligent systems.” Read more here. Two New AI Ethics Certifications Available from IEEE AI tools and autonomous intelligent systems are now being used by nearly every organization. Despite the benefits, they also bring risks. To help AI developers and companies ensure systems are trustworthy and ethically sound, the IEEE Standards Association just launched an ethics program offering two certifications: one for individuals and one for products. Read more here.

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The United States aims to embark on its most active new nuclear construction program since the 1970s. In its most high-dollar nuclear deal yet, the Trump administration in October launched a partnership to build at least $80 billion worth of new, large-scale nuclear reactors, and chose Westinghouse Electric Company and its co-owners, Brookfield Asset Management and Cameco, for the job. The money will support the construction of AP1000s, a type of pressurized water reactor developed by Westinghouse that can generate about 1,110 megawatts of electric power. These are the same reactors as units 3 and 4 at the Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia, which wrapped up seven years behind schedule in 2023 and 2024 and cost more than twice as much as expected—about $35 billion for the pair. Along the way, Westinghouse, based in Cranberry Township, Penn., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Chief executives of investor-owned utilities know that if they were to propose committing to similar projects on the same commercial terms, they’d be sacked on the spot. As a result, the private sector in the United States has been unwilling to take on the financial risk inherent in building new reactors. The $80 billion deal with the federal government represents the U.S. nuclear industry’s best opportunity in a generation for a large-scale construction program. But ambition doesn’t guarantee successful execution. The delays and cost overruns that dogged the Vogtle project present real threats for the next wave of reactors.Streamlining AP1000 Reactor Construction What might be different about the next set of AP1000s? On the positive side, delivering multiple copies of the same reactor ought to create the conditions for a steady decline in costs. Vogtle Unit 3 was the first AP1000 to be built in the United States, and the lessons learned from it resulted in Vogtle Unit 4 costing 30 percent less than Unit 3. (Six AP1000s are currently operating outside the United States, and 14 more are under construction, according to Westinghouse.) There’s been a bipartisan effort in the United States to streamline regulatory procedures to ensure that future projects won’t be delayed by the same issues that hampered Vogtle. The Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act that was signed into law by former U.S. President Joe Biden in 2024, includes several measures intended to improve processes at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The last nuclear reactors to be built in the United States—Vogtle Units 3 and 4 in Waynesboro, Georgia—were completed seven years behind schedule and cost more than twice as much as expected.Georgia Power Co. That included a mandated change in the NRC’s mission statement, setting a goal of “enabling the safe and secure use and deployment of civilian nuclear energy technologies”. It was a symbol of Congress’s intent to encourage the commission to support nuclear development. In May President Trump built on that legislation with four executive orders intended to speed up reactor licensing and accelerate nuclear development—a framework that has yet to be tested in practice. In November the NRC published regulations setting out how it planned to implement the president’s orders. The changes are focused on removing redundant and duplicative rules. One of President Trump’s orders included a series of provisions intended to help build the U.S. nuclear workforce, but it’s clear that that will be a challenge. The momentum gained in training skilled workers during the construction at Vogtle is already dissipating. Without other active new reactor projects to move on to immediately in the United States, many of the people who worked there have likely gone into other sectors, such as liquified natural gas (LNG) plants. Around the time that construction was wrapping up at Vogtle, many employers in the industry were already reporting difficulties in finding the staff they need, according to the Department of Energy’s 2025 United States Energy and Employment Report. Surveyed in 2024, 22 percent of employers in nuclear construction said it was “very difficult” to hire the workers they needed, and 63 percent said it was “somewhat difficult”. In nuclear manufacturing, 63 percent of employers said hiring was “very difficult”. If reactor construction really begins to pick up, there is clearly a danger that those numbers will rise. U.S. Nuclear Power Expansion Plans So just how many reactors will $80 billion buy? Assuming an average of $16 billion per AP1000—slightly less than for Vogtle, and allowing for cost reductions from economies of scale and learning-by-doing—the plan would mean five new reactors. That would represent an increase of about 5.7 percent in total U.S. nuclear energy generation capacity, if all the reactors currently in service remain online. The full details of the $80 billion deal, including the precise allocation of financing and risk-sharing, have not been specified. But Westinghouse’s co-owner, Brookfield, did disclose that the partnership includes profit-sharing mechanisms that will give the U.S. government some of the upside if the initiative succeeds. The Washington Post reported that after the U.S. signs the final contracts for $80 billion worth of new reactors, it will be entitled to 20 percent of all Westinghouse’s returns over $17.5 billion. And if Westinghouse’s valuation surpasses $30 billion, the administration can require it to be floated on the stock market. If that happens, the government will get a 20 percent stake. Enriched uranium is loaded at Vogtle Unit 4.Georgia Power Co. Japan’s government is also playing a key role. As part of a $550 billion U.S.-Japan trade deal struck in July, the Japanese government pledged large-scale investment in U.S. energy, including nuclear. Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toshiba Group, and IHI Corp., are interested in investing up to $100 billion in the United States to support the construction of new AP1000s and small modular reactors (SMRs), the two governments said. The Westinghouse deal supports a range of the administration’s objectives, including power for AI and investment and job creation in the American industrial sector. The focus on AP1000s also makes it possible to rely on U.S.-produced fuel, strengthening energy security. (Many of the designs for SMRs, which have garnered a considerable amount of excitement globally, use high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel, which is not currently produced on a large scale in the United States).U.S. Nuclear Energy Investment There have been other recent moves to add additional nuclear capacity in the United States. Santee Cooper, a South Carolina utility, announced plans for completing the construction of two AP1000 reactors that had been abandoned in 2017 at the V.C. Summer site in Jenkinsville, S.C. Separately, Google announced in October a deal with NextEra Energy to reopen a 615-MW nuclear plant in Iowa. The Duane Arnold Energy Center was shut down in 2020, and the aim is to have it operational again by the first quarter of 2029. Google has agreed to buy a share of the plant’s output for 25 years. Construction of two AP1000 reactors at the V.C. Summer nuclear site in Jenkinsville, S.C. were abandoned in 2017 after delays and cost overruns. Executives leading the projects were charged with fraud. Chuck Burton/AP But the plans that have been announced so far pale in comparison to the Trump administration’s nuclear ambitions. Earlier this year, President Trump set a goal of adding a whopping 300 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2050, up from a little under 100 GW today. That would mean much stronger growth than is currently projected in Wood Mackenzie’s forecasts, which show a near-doubling of U.S. nuclear generation capacity to about 190 GW in 2050. The main driver behind the Trump administration’s interest in nuclear is its ambitions for artificial intelligence. Chris Wright, the U.S. energy secretary, has described the race to develop advanced AI as the Manhattan Project of our times, critical to national security, and dependent upon a steep increase in electricity generation. Speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations in September, Wright promised: “We’re doing everything we can to make it easy to build power generation and data centers in our country.” One of the hallmarks of the Trump administration has been its readiness to intervene in markets to pursue its policy goals. Its nuclear strategy exemplifies that approach. In many ways, the Trump administration is acting like an energy company: using its financial strength and its convening power to put together a deal that covers the entire nuclear value chain. Throughout the history of nuclear power, the industry has worked closely with governments. But the federal government effectively taking a commercial position in the development of new reactors would be a first for the United States. In the first wave of U.S. reactor construction in the 1970s, federal government support was limited to R&D, uranium mining and enrichment, and indemnifying operators against the risk of nuclear accidents. Before the partial deregulation of U.S. electricity markets that began in the 1990s, utilities could develop nuclear plants with the assurance that the costs could be recovered from customers, even if they went far over budget. With many key markets now at least partially deregulated, nuclear project developers will need other types of guarantees to secure financing and move forward. The first new plants that result from the $80 billion deal will come online years after President Trump has left office. But they could play an important role in boosting U.S. electricity supply and developing advanced AI for decades.

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The current tight consolidation closely mirrors the April 2025 range that set the stage for the record run above $126,000.

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