04-01-2013, 03:42 PM
Transparent Electronics
[attachment=46513]
Researchers at Oregon State
University (OSU) have recently developed
a new class of materials.
They have used these materials in a
laboratory setting to create transparent
thin-film transistors (TTFTs).
These new materials might one day
allow you to transform the windshield
of your car into a GPS-activated
map at the touch of a button,
or turn a picture window in your
house into a high-definition video
screen. How far into the future you
will have to wait for these and other
consumer products is hard to say,
but HP has already taken the first
step by recently licensing OSU's new
technology.
The first transparent electronic
circuit was created using a thin film
zinc oxide substrate at Oregon State
University in 2003. Since then, researchers
have made major advances
and discovered 28 different
new material compounds that can
all render transparent electronic
circuits.
It was easy to understand how
electrons move through a crystalline
material but hard to understand
how they could efficiently move
through an amorphous thin-film
zinc-tin oxide. I asked if [ could use
the analogy that the atoms moved
through the zinc-tin oxide amorphous
material in much the same
way that a figure skater creates
intersecting circles to move around
an ice rink. Wager thought that rny
analogy worked if we viewed the
skater as using his or her circular
route to transfer from pond to pond
(atom to atom).
Wager and his team have now
identified 28 inorganic oxide material
combinations that might be just
as effective as or even more effective
than the zinc-tin oxide that they
had first discovered. Each of the 28
material combinations would have
the capability to produce transparent,
inexpensive, chemically stable,
difficult to damage and even environmentally
friendly materials that
can he turned into electronic circuits.
Since the percentage in the
mix can vary, Wager says that the
new material possibilities are actually
infinite in number.
[attachment=46513]
Researchers at Oregon State
University (OSU) have recently developed
a new class of materials.
They have used these materials in a
laboratory setting to create transparent
thin-film transistors (TTFTs).
These new materials might one day
allow you to transform the windshield
of your car into a GPS-activated
map at the touch of a button,
or turn a picture window in your
house into a high-definition video
screen. How far into the future you
will have to wait for these and other
consumer products is hard to say,
but HP has already taken the first
step by recently licensing OSU's new
technology.
The first transparent electronic
circuit was created using a thin film
zinc oxide substrate at Oregon State
University in 2003. Since then, researchers
have made major advances
and discovered 28 different
new material compounds that can
all render transparent electronic
circuits.
It was easy to understand how
electrons move through a crystalline
material but hard to understand
how they could efficiently move
through an amorphous thin-film
zinc-tin oxide. I asked if [ could use
the analogy that the atoms moved
through the zinc-tin oxide amorphous
material in much the same
way that a figure skater creates
intersecting circles to move around
an ice rink. Wager thought that rny
analogy worked if we viewed the
skater as using his or her circular
route to transfer from pond to pond
(atom to atom).
Wager and his team have now
identified 28 inorganic oxide material
combinations that might be just
as effective as or even more effective
than the zinc-tin oxide that they
had first discovered. Each of the 28
material combinations would have
the capability to produce transparent,
inexpensive, chemically stable,
difficult to damage and even environmentally
friendly materials that
can he turned into electronic circuits.
Since the percentage in the
mix can vary, Wager says that the
new material possibilities are actually
infinite in number.