I was going to post “I WAS PROMISED FLYING CARS DAMMIT!” at New Year, but … this is pretty close.
New research could lead to ‘invisible’ electronics
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Recent advances could lead to displays that are indistinguishable from plates of glass when not displaying an image. |
Researchers have long worked on developing new types of displays powered by electronics without visible wires. But, until now, no one was able to develop materials for transistors that could be “invisible” while still maintaining a high level of performance.
“Our development provides new strategies for creating transparent electronics,” said Tobin J. Marks, the Vladimir N. Ipatieff Research Professor in Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern and professor of materials science and engineering, who led the research. “You can imagine a variety of applications for new electronics that haven’t been possible previously — imagine displays of text or images that would seem to be floating in space.”
Transistors are used for all the switching and computing necessary in electronics, and, in displays, they are used to power and switch the light sources.
High-performance, transparent transistors could be combined with existing kinds of light display technologies, such as organic light-emitting diodes, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and electroluminescent displays, which are already used in televisions, desktop and laptop computers and cell phones.
To create their thin-film transistors, Marks’ group combined films of the inorganic semiconductor indium oxide with a multilayer of self-assembling organic molecules that provides superior insulating properties.
The indium oxide films can be fabricated at room temperature, allowing the transistors to be produced at a low cost. And, in addition to being transparent, the transistors outperform the silicon transistors currently used in LCD screens and perform nearly as well as high-end polysilicon transistors.
Prototype displays using the transistors developed at Northwestern could be available in 12 to 18 months, said Marks. He has formed a start-up company, Polyera, to bring this and related technologies to market.
Mmmm, self-assembling organic molecules. That’s so hot.
What, no picture? :)
Ha :)
Curses, foiled again.
that’s pretty cool… though it doesn’t seem all that advanced, I don’t think the tech’s been discussed in depth before. At least not to the degree of having a full colour, fully transparent dynamic display… any sci-fi movies or shows use that kind of idea? or did they all just jump from computer monitors to holographic displays? :P
Tons. The biggest recent movie I can think of to use transparent displays is Minority Report.
was that full colour though? Or just 2 colour, or monochromatic?
you know, I have the movie, I should just watch it again :P…
I don’t recall, but ultimately that’s not so important – every display that has started out single-color has migrated to full-color, including e-paper. what’s important is the complete transparency of the electronics. That’s the new stuff.
That is too cool! Is it ok to be turned on a little? :-)
That makes me geek meter go wowzers!
This is exactly how I picture editing video!
In my dreams, anyway.