Boffins at Oregon State create transparent circuits?
Dude, screw the transparent OLEDs, it's all about transparent circuits, which some Oregon State University scientists seem to have created. The significance, of course, is clear (ahem): you save a lot of space in devices -- especially portables -- when your circuit board is your screen, not mounted on a wafter in a package on a board behind it. Apparently the scientists even expect clear, glass-mounted indium gallium oxide circuitry to ultimately be cheaper to produce than silicon. The military's in on the gig too, the Army Research Office is a project sponsor (as is HP and the National Science Foundation), probably for the project's obvious heads-up display uses. Will we, um, not see this gear any time in the near future? Hard to say, they're only up to 26 transistors in a single array as of yet (compared to the hundreds of millions in chips nowadays), but we'll be waiting.[Thanks, James F]
Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Alcaron @ Apr 3rd 2006 9:50AM
....boffins....
Just when you thought the "faux witty" posts couldn't get ANY worse.
distantbody @ Apr 3rd 2006 10:03AM
Yeah... Those wafter mounted circuit boards can be real, um, stinkers...
/
Please don't hate me ;|
Kibi @ Apr 3rd 2006 10:21AM
Just wanted to say - I hate the word "Boffin".
OSU Alum @ Apr 3rd 2006 10:21AM
Go OSU, from one of your worst ever Computer Engineering students.
Dutch @ Apr 3rd 2006 11:00AM
Actually they did create a circuit, a simple ring oscillator :
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2006/Mar06/circuit.htm
foamking @ Apr 3rd 2006 11:03AM
Nice. So how's the progress on making "transparent aluminum"?
Snappy! @ Apr 3rd 2006 12:31PM
The one application that will benefit greatly would be LCDs!
Current LCD technologies have what is known as aperture size. It is basically the measurement of opening of the LCD that is not blocked by the circuit / transistor that is driving each sub-pixel.
With transparent circuitry, each sub-pixel can transmit all the light with virtually no losses at all.
Bottom-line: Brighter LCDs, better contrast. Or lower power consumption to achieve similar brightness. That means longer battery life! :D
eliot h @ Apr 3rd 2006 3:01PM
correct me if i'm wrong here, but doesn't universal display already have this?
Captain Obvious @ Apr 4th 2006 2:22AM
Were dancing around the obvious here. Layer these babies into a sphere and - bam - 3D digital sno-globe, 3D pocket pr0n-globe, the possibilities are endless.