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World's First Completely Transparent IC
An anonymous reader writes "DeviceForge is reporting that researchers at Oregon State University claim to have created the worlds first 'completely transparent' ICs (integrated circuit) from inorganic compounds. From the article: 'The technology can enable extremely inexpensive electronics for use in "throw away" devices, and is expected to be used in automobile windshields, cell phones, TVs, games, and toys, among other applications, OSU said. OSU also believes that the technology might result in more efficient solar cells or improvements and LCD displays (liquid crystal displays), it said.'"
I didn't see that coming.
Cool, an icy IC.
Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
How do they taste with salsa?
Nothing to see here, please move along
They are Isolinear Chips. :-D
Do we need a child to point out this is a fake? :-p
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
tiny little display in my contact lenses would be cool! Could be powered by tears...
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
If this becomes mainstream, auctioners are going to have a field day auctioning off completely transparent hardware. Complete with a completely transparent monitor.
What are the possible... oh, I C...
E = m * c^(Hammer)
What is next transparent human skin?
Okay you know that it is Liquid Crystal Display but you say LCD Displays! Come on editors someone should have caught that and changed it so it doesn't look so bad.
What world are these people living in!? Mobile phones and a TV is not "throw away", a good TV will last 10-20 years if not more. Why would anyone in their right mind pay the price of a TV and considerit disaposable?
I like muppets.
Don't they know that this will cause photon leak when the optical ICs finally come out! Then they are going to spend more $$$ all over again to figure out how to prevent the photon leak! :P
-ItsME
Very cool indeed. I have worked on glass substrates for TFT related applications in my grad studies. I tell you one thing, it is very hard to tell which side is up and which side is down. Many times in the beginning I had put the wafer upside down just to find out it didn't deposit certain thing or etch on the right side. Finally I managed to put a visible mark which would only read correct from one side and got around. Now if you make transparent ICs, how do you go about aligning one layer to another in lithography (common step in IC fabrication). I hope they don't make transparent ICs on transparent substrates - that would be quite a fun.
Weeeee!
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
They looked translucent to me (of course, I have no idea how the slides were prepared in the pics, and whether they indicate the working product).
I'm also curious as to
I'm curious as to how much heat these suckers will generate -- the obvious 'transparent' uses would, I imagine, need them to be encased in glass or protective transparent cases. The windshield mentioned, for example -- how quickly would heat build to the point of damaging the IC?
My second question is why these ICs would be any better than opaque ICs for throwaway use? Are they cheaper to manufacture, even scaled to billions of chips? Aren't normal ICs pretty maskable with film coverings?
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are applications where this could be very useful, but I'm not sure that even if development is completed, there would ever be enough demand to make these useful for anything other than niche applications.
Then again, 512k should be enough memory for anyone, and there will never be a market for more than five computers in the US.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Could transparent ICs be stacked, using a form of optics to communicate between the layers, to create 3-D arrays of ICs? Heat might be too much of a problem, I don't know I'm no engineer, but perhaps it could be emmersed in some sort of coolant. Anyone know if this kind of thing could be done or if there is something far more sophisticated that they could link?
Demented But Determined.
Kick-ass, maybe now we can finally get some of those neato power-meter thingies like in Dragon Ball Z!
And I have this inorganic [read transparent] Ferrari. I know it looks like I am walking, but really, you just can't see it! NoMorePoints.com
My first thought on reading this is that there might be significant espionage applications for this kind of thing.
So then... why exactly is it not only *visible* in the photos, but *strongly colored*? When I think of the words "completely transparent" I don't think "colored plastic you can kind of see through if you squint".
Also: What does being transparent have to do with being throw-away? Or are they just stating "transparent" and "cheap/disposable" as two positive qualities of their creation?
I'm crossing my fingers that this might eventually result in a transparent LED. Think of the display possibilities!
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
"Jack, what do mean you sold our cow for a handful of invisible electronics?!?"
It has been reported that OSU has not been able to find the groundbreaking IC. Due to complete transperancy, its has been exteremely difficult to locate it.
Throw-away windshields!
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
These will be great for automated decision making systems used by regulatory agencies.
True transparency in government !
That's right, and if you order within the next ten minutes, we'll send you a second one, absolutely free!
S&H: $24.99
Delivery time: Instantaneous
Sharp did this a while ago with a Z80 core.
http://www.z80.info/sharp/z80_glas.htm
---- Booth was a patriot ----
It's "translucent", not transparent.
Anyway, the base of the circuitry (what it's printed on), is simply glass. No big deal there (they've been doing that for a while). The circuitry itself isn't tranparent anyway.
Please, ScuttleMonkey, just say no to RAS Syndrome!
Nothing to see here please move along...
could this mean M$ windows for windows is on the horizon??
... that was the best joke you've read in the last .5 seconds????
ok admit it
actually I am happy to see you, however that is in fact a banana in my pocket.
N/T
Anyone who can't see them is a fool or is not fit for his job.
A beowulf cluster of those!
I, for one, am skeptical about OSU's research with regards to the IC's utility in the field of conventional electron-beam lithography. To engrave features onto the IC at a sub-micrometre level, how would the substrate of the IC, with its importunate properties of inelasticity, respond to the photomasks at 193nm? What would become of the mass production of these compounds? I'm not saying the article is wholly without merit, but I remain a little skeptical about the IC's practical uses in production.
He never said that it didn't.
If thats his pizza, I'm IC Whatever!
Blessed are the 1337, for they shall pwn the earth.
What moron at Lane Bryant thought Slashdot would be a good target audience for advertising? Clothes for hefty girls... Please.
They didn't say how much more efficient the solar cells would be. I can see at least one way this technology would make solar cells more efficient but it would only multiply the present output by maybe 1.2 or so. I haven't been paying close attention lately but it seems to me that solar cells need to be 60% efficient before they become really attractive for general use and they're no where close yet. A small increase in efficiency really isn't that exciting.
Nothing to see here...
I can see them "completely" transparent ICs.
Gotta check my eyes. Seeing things I shouldn't have.
Do the solar cells we have right now suck that badly that a 0% efficient cell would be better?
maybe it seriously could if the power requirements of the particular chip are low enough, maybe the salt/other minerals could make the liquid acidic or whatever like regular batteries and provide just enough power...
I suggest you read Slashdot
If your windows also displayed your Windows?
(or your Mac or Linux, for that matter?)
Windows has detected an undetectable error.
Doesn't this affect heat release and tolerance?
Real time
Hitler's in the fridge.
You say IC, but I say !IC
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seuss
Yes, exactly what we need: a solar cell that actually absorbs *none* of the light that hits it.
That's not the point.
The semiconductor would absorb photons at or above the bandgap (NOT being transparent at that frequency) and pass those at lower frequencies without attenuation. Thus a stack of junctions at progressively lower bandgaps can get better use of the light - since the energy above the bandgap in the layer where the photon is absorbed is lost.
Making a completely transparent (to light below the bandgap) solar cell allows the light propagating to lower layers do do so efficiently. It also allows the CELLS to be stacked, substrate and all, if the materials are incompatable and can't all be layered on one substrate.
So it COULD be a VERY useful improvement in solar cell technology.
(Another thing that would make it useful is if it is CHEAP to manufacture. Solar is getting better but is still not cost-competitive with grid power except in remote locations and small devices such as roadsigns.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
HI-larious
Great for throwaway devices? So, naturally, they've put plenty of work into minimizing the environmental effects of this? ...right?
Repton.
They say that only an experienced wizard can do the tengu shuffle.
U can't C.
I just couldn't figure out where to attach the wires.
Never shake hands with a man you meet in a fertility clinic.
4w3s0m3! N0w 1 c4n 4ch13v3 my ult1m4t3 l33tn3ss w1th 4 fully tr4nsp4r3nt c0mput4r.
when can i have glasses with buildt in display that can talk to my pda-phone?
comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
caption from this picture in the article... http://www.deviceforge.com/files/misc/osu-transpar ent-electronics-team-big.jpg
"This will only hurt a bit..."
'nuff said.
This is so 1995 technology.
"What moron at Lane Bryant thought Slashdot would be a good target audience for advertising? Clothes for hefty girls... Please."
Mother's day is coming up.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
... so Wonder Woman said, "What was that?", and the Invisible Man says, "I don't know, but my ass sure hurts".
A: No, they, they haven't because not many people really give a shit.
Note: I the preceding does not imply a position on whether or not they should [give a shit].
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
i'll believe it when i see it..
It almost never fails when assessing claims for a new technology to look at the list of proposed applications. You get a pretty darn good "humbug" feeling long before you dig into the technical details, which are invariably thin on the ground. The other fabulous telltale is "commercial applications in five years". "Five years" is venture capital speak for "we have no clue". "Ten years" is primary science speak for "I've been cited three times already".
99 inventions out of a hundred that promise the moon deliver green cheese.
Did anyone else notice how amazingly hot that girl on the far left is? SEXY SCIENTIST!
So instead of tucking away the electronics in a relatively secure place in your car (it's not like there isn't room), you stick it in the great big piece of breakable glass in the front of the car, which is expensive enough to replace anyway? And have you ever fitted a windscreen to a car? Lining up the contacts would be a btich.
There are lots of places where transparent electronics could really improve a product, but I don't think a car windshield is one of them (unless you are talking HUD, but there are better ways of achieving that anyway so i assume you aren't)
Could put lil magnets on your eyelids so it charges 'em every time you blink! :-p
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
I, for one, welcome our new translucent overlords!
I -have- worked in the repair/service industry - 70-odd TVs in total, just as part of an internship. That was some 6 years ago. Here's the deal...
:) ) and you have to dig for the solution for the specific board in question.
Let's say somebody brings in a TV which doesn't work anymore, or just flips out after being on for a while. What's the likely cause? Bad solder joint - typically around one of the FETs or around the HV transformer. Easy enough to fix - open up the casing, unplug the wires, slide the board out, re-solder all joints (when one fails, more fail, and you don't want the customer to come back in 2 weeks claiming your repair was botched and you'll have to open it up again, for free.), and put it all back together again.
All in all, it's an hour or an hour and them some later. You have to bill them at least for that. If it's an hour and then some - 2 hours, 2 * $30 (and that's a low price) is $60.
When TVs start costing only $180, who is going to pay $60 to get their old TV repaired? They'll just get a new one.
And this goes moreso when there are actual parts to replace, as you mentioned. And even moreso if the problem isn't trivial ( here's a nice one I encountered a couple of times... The TV display flips on and off all the time. When the news is on, it's fine - until they show a an earlier report. Cookies for those who know what's up and how to fix it
Here is one on the IC:
03-16-06 OSU Creates World's First Transparent Integrated Circuit
Here are some earlier ones:
02-07-06 OSU Licenses New Transparent Electronics to HP
12-20-05 Transparent Electronics Presentation Named In Top Five
"This is a quantum leap in moving transparent electronics from the laboratory toward working commercial applications"
I hope the journalist just spiced up the quote - because most professors wouldn't be caught dead saying something like that.
While the rest of us were mourning, you went out and bought a new TV? For shame!
I don't know but it will bug me. How about no cookies, just tell us?
Different carrier signal? Anything to do with commercials and *audio*?
Screw Transparent ICs, gimme three dozen of those Purple Pimp gloves!
"Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins
I doubt it. E-rants
So its big news because it's inexpensive or because it's transparent?
so how the fuck is a salt solution acidic, please do tell?
yay go Beavers!!!
Did they really lose a Sale?
you say you would buy from them again
you probably bought other sharp equipment due to a good prior experience. you also might already have recommended sharp as a good brand to buy.
People reading your comment may buy a Sharp Tv, knowing you have had a good experience with Sharp products.
Incidentally I don't tend to look at brand names but I have a sharp vcr. I bought this new so long ago I don't remember maybe mid 90's its never had a problem in all that time it just works.
Sharp may have made a quality product for you and for me
but I don't think they have lost a sale, just reduced the sales of other brand equipment.
"they are not maximising profits" not in the short term but in the long term they may be ensuring they have a future (perhaps by now the products are not so good) but now they are a recognised quantity in the market.
meeting a need is not a bad thing, I don't really want to buy crappy products, do you ?
Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
Nuffsaid
________
Don't know about his cat, but Schroedinger is definitely dead.
"2nd hand electronics sales will soon be illegal in Japan"
http://www.akihabaranews.com/news-11230-X.html
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Well, my Sony TV is nearing age of ten and shows no signs of wearout or aging whatsoever. Sure, it was high end back in the day (not cheap at all), and it's still very nice right now. I do not think plasma TVs are good enough to replace my TV yet because that technology is not mature.
Digital is an exercise in precision, while analog was an exercise in controlled chaos.
[ digitalFAQ.com ]
I was kind of expecting the 'transparent aluminum' from Star Trek only applied to integrated circuits. This isn't something you'd want smatterd right in the middle of your windsheild - wtf?
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
This message will self destruct in 30 seconds...
Damn. Someone mod this anonymous coward up. A whole list of references to the correct usage instead of argumentative personal opinions.
Good job li'l anonymous guy. Good job!
If you can't think of something nice to say then don't say anything at all. No, REALLY.
First transparent aluminum... now this! I know you're among us, Scotty! Beam me up, damn you!!
"I see," said the Blind Man, as he picked up his hammer and saw.
Hey, I know the girl on the very left in this pic! Just kinda weird... :)
Joseph?
The cost of solar panels that matters is the installed cost. The result is that even if the panels themselves are free, there is a certain efficiency below which they aren't economical. Dramatic increases in efficiency are actually necessary for photovoltaics to gain more widespread use.
The IC's are doped with transparent aluminum.
Salts can be derived from any acid/base pair (strong or weak). Therefore, something like ammonium nitrate (formed from a strong acid (nitric) and a weak base (ammonia)) will dissociate in solution and lead to an excess of hydronium, dropping the pH below neutral for high enough concentrations (0.1M gives a pH of close to 5). This is an example of an acidic salt, and they are quite common.
Is this clear, you ass felching knob goblin?
That was redundant.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
I noticed windshields , etc ..
:)
If I go rooting through my parts box I can see something like LM555 or something else indicative of what exactly the chip is and does.
If these are to be used in windshields, or other LCD displays, how the *hell* are you going to know what chip you have to replace should it malfunction?
Man oh man just when I got the parts drawer organized , they had to go and do this. Well at least I won't be able to see the clutter.. Out of sight, out of mind
Yeah but what the point remains you can't find those in human tears. (I'm not grandparent)