Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

Nanowire Electronics Transparent And Flexible

Transparent transistors and circuits have been successfully fabricated using nanowires of indium oxide or zinc oxide.


(Transparent indium-oxide nanowire transistors shown (invisibly!) in red line zones)

"The nanowires themselves are transparent, the contacts we put on them are transparent and the glass or plastic substrate is transparent," said David Janes, a researcher at Purdue University's Birck Nanotechnology Center and a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

"Our study demonstrates that nanowire electronics can be fully transparent, as well as flexible, while maintaining high performance levels," said Tobin J. Marks, the Vladimir N. Ipatieff Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern. "This opens the door to entirely new technologies for high-performance transparent flexible displays."

This technological leap offers great hope to science fiction fans looking for futuristic devices from their favorite stories:

  • Large-scale transparent displays on curved surfaces.
    This would include windshield-mounted displays as well as heads-up displays for pilots. Consider the vision of the future presented by E.C. Tubb in his 1958 novel The Mechanical Monarch:
    Against one wall a wide sheet of clear material suddenly flared with light and swirling colour. It steadied and a woman stared from the screen. A woman with long dark hair and eyes that were like twin pools of midnight beneath her heavy brows...
    (Read more about flexible wall sheet display)
  • Flexible, clear e-paper displays Consider the poster TV from Larry Niven's A World Out of Time:
    She set up a screen: a television that unrolled like a poster.
    (Read more about Niven's poster TV
  • Flexible electronics for RFID tags, contactless credit cards and other electronics applications embedded on flexible surfaces.
    How else am I going to get a sleeve watch, not to mention readout skin?
    I'm the only report I know who still uses his handwriter except to take notes…I snapped the fingers of my left hand…Three rows of four colored dots appeared on the heel of my left hand. By pressing the dots in different combinations with my fingertips I was able to write the story in shorthand, and watch the loops and lines scrawl themselves on a strip of readout skin on my wrist...
    (Read more about readout skin)
The nanowires are transparent because they are made of materials that do not absorb light in the visible range of the spectrum. In conventional electronics, transistors are connected to the rest of the circuitry by tiny lines of metal that act as wires. But in the new approach, the nanowires are the transistors.

"This is a different kind of wire," Janes said. "It is basically taking the place of the silicon in silicon electronics... Ideally, we want to have circuitry where each pixel [in a display] has a drive transistor and then some control transistors with it so that you can turn your pixels on and off," Janes said.

Via Eurekalert.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/27/2007)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )

Related News Stories - (" Display ")

Transparent 4K OLED Wireless TV From LG
You will note that HG Wells also figured out the aspect ratio of the future!

DOTPad Braille Device Offers Live Access
Amazing tactile display.

Transparent MicroLED Screen From Samsung
Has Samsung nailed the Look of Things To Come?

Augmented Reality Book Covers Reveal The Inner Book
'The E-paper holograms leaped from lurid covers...' - Greg Bear, 2003.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

Will AIs Give Better Results If You're Rude To Them?
'I said, "Listen up, motherf*cker.'

Cybertruck Robotic Arm F10 Drone Launch!
Drone away!

Black Fungus Blocks Radiation
'You were surrounded by Astrophage most of the time'

Liuzhi Process Now In Use In China
'He was in a high-ceilinged windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain.'

Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors...'

Will Robots Become Family Caregivers?
'The robant and the tiny old woman entered the control room slowly...'

Chinese Tokamak Uses AI To Keep Fusion Plasma Stable
'Guy named Otto Octavius winds up with eight limbs... What are the odds?'

Time Crystals Can Now Be Seen Directly
'It is as you thought when you constructed the time crystal, my master Vaylan.'

RoboBallet The Dance Of Cooperative Robots
'...an integrated seven-unit robot team.'

Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri
'This was their world, their planet — this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.'

Alexa+ And Its AI Brain Improvements
'What's it do?' he asked. 'It amuses.'

Does CloneRobotics Offer A True Android?
Is this What Little Girls Are Made Of?

Brain Implant Is Able To Capture Your Inner Dialogue
'So you see, you can hide nothing from me.'

Are AIs Going Rogue Like Hal 9000
'I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me...'

Animated Tumblebugs On Astounding Cover!
'Gaines and Harvey mounted tumblebugs, and kept abreast of the Cadet Captain...'

LingYuan Vehicle Roof Drones Now Available, ala Blade Runner 2049
Accompanied by a small selection of similar ideas from science fiction.

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.