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.'"

Comments

Whoa

[Anonymous Coward]

I didn't see that coming.

Re:Whoa

[bosabilene]

This is an old story being rehashed. The story broke at least 6 months ago. They use aluminum oxide to print the circuit boards. It can be done at near room temperatures, thus dramatically reducing the cost of making the integrated circuits. Aluminum oxide is one the cheapest materials available.

Re:Whoa

[modecx]

What I want to know is when they can develop some corneal night vision implants so I can walk around in my Riddick style welding goggles and not run into tables and kick the cat and stuff.

Re:Whoa

[g-doo]

Me neither. I saw right past that.

Re:Whoa

[dwhuston]

Trust me its there. You ought to see my new line of clothes..

Cool

[Eightyford]

Cool, an icy IC.

Re:Cool

[Anonymous Coward]

I see...

Obligatory slashdot meme post

[Anonymous Coward]

Nothing to see here, please move along

They are not Integrated Circuits

[suso]

They are Isolinear Chips. :-D

Re:They are not Integrated Circuits

[DRM_is_Stupid]

They Say IC, But I Don't See...

Re:They are not Integrated Circuits

[Cunk]

I thought he pissed into the wind...

Eye IC

[x2A]

tiny little display in my contact lenses would be cool! Could be powered by tears...

Re:Eye IC

[ToasterofDOOM]

Lucky for emo children I guess

Re:Eye IC

[muyuubyou]

...or just by temp difference between your eye and the air outside.

Utility?

[cataclyst]

What are the possible... oh, I C...

ARG!!

[forand]

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.

Re:ARG!!

[Dachannien]

One day, you'll find yourself punching your PIN number into a touch-sensitive LCD display at your local ATM machine.

Re:ARG!!

[Aranth Brainfire]

Still doesn't match a disc case I got for Christmas ages ago... "Compact CD Disc Case"

Re:ARG!!

[Mahou]

if it is a noun then don't use it as a qualifying adjective (what kind of display? an lcd display!) just use it as a noun, LCD. it is what it is. and it is a kind of display. so you're completely wrong.
PIN is the word for the number, no need to remind people that it's a number. there's no such thing as a PIN hieroglyph, PIN doodle, or PIN secret handshake
ATM is the word for the machine, no need to remind people it's a machine. there's no such thing as a ATM dog, ATM grocer, or ATM baseball bat
NIC is a type of card, etc.

just because a bunch of people say it doesn't mean it's right.

Re:ARG!!

[Joe Random]

As pointed out above, that is incorrect; you're combining two seperate acronyms.
LED = Light Emitting Diode.
LCD = Liquid Crystal Display.

Re:ARG!!

[LS]

You know, that brings up an interesting application for these electronics. You could make one of these into a keygrabber by laying one on top of another touch screen. Hmm, the criminal possibilities are endless...

Re:ARG!!

[Alioth]

Or using the Microsoft MS-DOS Operating System.

Re:ARG!!

[Doctor Faustus]

ATM baseball bat
Actually, you do see something like that in porn sometimes...

Re:ARG!!

[ObiWanKenblowme]

For the long term, when it comes to language, "just because a bunch of people say it" is the only thing that means it's right.

Re:ARG!!

[Punboy]

No, actually, LCD is often used to mean both Liquid Crystal Diode and Liquid Crystal Display. Diode came first however.

wahey!

[Turn-X Alphonse]

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?

Re:wahey!

[x2A]

...because there's so much crap on tv these days, it's difficult to not throw it away! ;-)

Re:wahey!

[Red Flayer]

"a good TV will last 10-20 years if not more"

We should be so lucky. A company that produces TVs that last that long isn't maximizing its profits. My Sharp TV was bought the day of the Challenger explosion, and is on its last legs. I would have been happy if it had lasted 10 years, and would have bought another Sharp, most likely. Anecdotal, sure -- but Sharp lost a sale by making a good TV.

Consumer electronics are engineered to last only a couple/few years past the warranty period -- keep the customer just satisfied enough, while ensuring they are still buying those TVs.

Re: whether people consider them disposable -- well, lots of people are happy to pay $30 a month for their TV. After they've paid it off, they're quite happy to upgrade to a bigger, newer TV for $30 a month. And chances are, they'll need to within a year or two.

Re:wahey!

[scdeimos]

You've never worked in a repair/servicing industry, have you?

Mobile phones and TV's are extremely throw-away nowadays. Have you ever tried to have one repaired? Particularly with "name brand" TV's like Somy (typo intended) the cost of spare parts is so high (read: whole boards/modules, not single components) that it is generally cheaper to throw the product away and replace it with a cheaper up-to-date version. Common thought seems to be that spare parts prices are artificially inflated to improve new sales turnover.

Funny as it seems, the cheaper TV's coming from Chinese manufacturers are much more repairable because (a) schematic diagrams are more available *and* cheaper, and (b) they use less proprietary components which are easier to obtain.

Re:wahey!

[kimvette]

. . . which is why I replaced my $350 Sony DVD player with a cheap made-in-Taiwan player which actually turned out to be a better player. Why? Sony wanted $120 for a replacement optical sled. WTF?! It wasn't until AFTER I tossed it that I found the exact same sled under a different part number/different brand from one of my distributors. :( Fuck Sony, preferably with an old, cracked and splintered, creosote-soaked telephone pole. Repeatedly.

Re:wahey!

[kebes]

Well the idea with disposable electronics/devices is that the manufacturing is cheaper and the end devices cost so little that they are disposable. The 'dream' of those working on these devices is that they become so cheap that they replace things like billboards and flyers and so forth. Basically you can hand out "disposable paper-thin TVs" on the street as advertising. Many consumers like the idea of being able to easily replace their devices. (TV doesn't quite fit the new decor of your living room? Just throw it out and buy a new one...) I think it's pretty obvious that there will be a consumer demand for cheaper, disposable devices.

What worries me much more is the obvious environmental impact. Society has made some progress over the last decade to be more "environmentally friendly" yet new directions like this one just push us ever further towards a fully "disposable society."

Re:wahey!

[Turn-X Alphonse]

I know what you're saying and it's a shame.

The lady who used to live nextdoor to me died about ten years ago, she gave me her TV in her will. It lasted me untill last year and I'll be damned if it wasn't 20 years old by then.

So not all TV's die fast.. We just forgot about quality when we mass produced crap and charged 4 times more.

Re:wahey!

[aelbric]

Not to be picky but the Challenger disaster ocurred on January 28, 1986. Ergo your TV has lasted almost 20 years.

Re:wahey!

[Changa_MC]

It lasted 20 years, but he would've been satisfied had it only lasted 10. Had they designed it to break after 10, he would've bought another one in the middle, and they would have made a better profit off of him.
Companies have learned from that mistake, and modern TVs last only 2-3 years.

Re:wahey!

[Easy2RememberNick]

Because if you can't see your invisible mobile phone with a dead battery you'll lose it, then you'll have to buy a new one.

Re:wahey!

[triffid_98]

...What worries me much more is the obvious environmental impact. Society has made some progress over the last decade to be more "environmentally friendly" yet new directions like this one just push us ever further towards a fully "disposable society."

No, not really. In the last decade we've just moved the environmental impact to someone else's country. Every day tons of cheaply made electronics arrive by container ship, and quite a bit of our electronic 'waste' goes back the same way. Environmental legislation makes it impractical to recycle it here, but back in China thats a profitable business.

Re:wahey!

[somersault]

I was going to make a comment about it likely having funky flashing lights, but dead battery.. hmm.. that is a dilemma :o people will be scouring on the floor trying to find their phone/PDA (/laptop/desktop? err maybe not) just like they have to do now with contact lenses..

on a random side thought.. dynamic stained glass windows.. cool :)

Re:wahey!

[SW6]

We should be so lucky. A company that produces TVs that last that long isn't maximizing its profits. My Sharp TV was bought the day of the Challenger explosion, and is on its last legs. I would have been happy if it had lasted 10 years, and would have bought another Sharp, most likely. Anecdotal, sure -- but Sharp lost a sale by making a good TV.

I bought a second-hand Sony telly for fifty quid back in 1994; it was made the year before. It still works as well as the day it was made.

I'd never buy another Sony though. I've seen some of their newer stuff and it's nothing special, so I might as well save a few bob and get something cheaper.

Re:wahey!

[just_forget_it]

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.

The article is not saying that TV's and cellphones are throwaway devices, even though they are becoming more that way.

Damn fools...

[1tsm3]

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

See through ..

[karvind]

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.

Re:See through ..

[hazem]

Maybe it's only transparent to visible light? Would it be possible that the ICs would be visible in UV light?

Re:See through ..

[zippthorne]

I would assume you put a visible registration mark on a section of substrate that's unused (say.. the back perhaps?) or some kind of removeable holder.

Re:See through ..

[smellsofbikes]

That's what I was thinking, or IR light. There are a lot less transparent substances in the UV and IR than in the visible because of basic materials properties. That's what places I've worked with have done when they had to line up transparent lithography stacks for deep UV photolith.

That along with...

[AltGrendel]

transparent aluminum. Eventually, we'll be able to build Wonder Woman's invisible airplane.

Weeeee!

Transparent?

[Red Flayer]

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.

Re:Transparent?

[TubeSteak]

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?

If they're using it in windshields, the chip's heat output is the last thing they have to worry about.

The very first thing that they're going to have to engineer around is the chip's ability to withstand a constant barrage of UV radiation & high temps. If it can't handle summer time, it's heat output is irrelevant for automotive (and potentially other) use.

Re:Transparent?

[chris_eineke]

Then again, 512k should be enough memory for anyone, and there will never be a market for more than five computers in the US.

What's with this obsession about mispredictions of the past? 500 gig hard-drives go for $450 and my family owns at least 5 personal computers (Wintel, Lintel, and Mac).

Don't underestimate the future. If you do, hindsight will catch up to you. It's your job then to keep it. Last time I checked IBM and Microsoft are doing quite well.

Re:Transparent?

[Red Flayer]

I stated in my OP that I couldn't see a huge demand for these things except for niche products -- I referenced the past mispredictions in order to state that I could very well be wrong, and these things might be ubiquitous in a generation.

Re:Transparent?

[Red Flayer]

The heat output of the chips is very relevant -- glass isn't the best conductor, and heat output will exacerbate ambient heat problems.

How about freezing in the winter? How will the chips deal with expansion and contraction, will they do so at the same rate as the glass, or are you asking for seasonal degradation of the chips?

Re:Transparent?

[chris_eineke]

I wasn't attacking you or your opinion. It won't take as long as a generation for those things to become ubiquitous, because progress progresses exponentionally. I'm pretty sure we'll see things like the first TB HDD this year.

Re:Transparent?

[Tx]

Automotive safey glass is a laminate with a layer of flexible plastic in the middle. The plastic is designed to stretch so placing an IC in that layer shouldn't present any problem. Can't say about the heat issue though.

Re:Transparent?

[konkani]

Yes they are transparent! Check out this picture:
http://www.deviceforge.com/files/misc/osu-transpar ent-electronics-team-big.jpg

Re:Transparent?

[nick_davison]

The windshield mentioned, for example -- how quickly would heat build to the point of damaging the IC?

I wasn't speeding officer. I was "air cooling" my windshield IC.

Of course the far more l33t Brits and folks from the state of Washington would all have watercooled versions but we can't all be that l33t.

Re:Transparent?

[fyngyrz]

Progress progresses progressively?

Re:Transparent?

[Sqwubbsy]

Something tells me that putting an IC in between two pieces of clear, non-breathable laminate will result in toasted ICs.
I'm no engineer, but that one seems fairly obvious.

Re:Transparent?

[sdnoob]

soon as the p0rn industry figures out how to use these things, they'll blow right off the shelves.

Re:Transparent?

[x2A]

"I'm curious as to how much heat these suckers will generate"

Well... it depends what you want to do with it. If you wanted to try and make a high speed general processor then it could kick out some heat, but that's probably not it's intended purpose (at least at this point in time). Most IC's don't need to worry about heat... digital watches don't have heatsinks.

Re:Transparent?

[Red Flayer]

Yeah, I know... and if you were, it'd be OK, this is slashdot, after all. I just wasn't sure you realized why I referenced the predictions...

Re:Transparent?

[Red Flayer]

"Most IC's don't need to worry about heat... digital watches don't have heatsinks."

Digital watches' ICs also aren't sandwiched between two panes of low-heat-conductive material that sit in the hot sun, either. I dunno if the small amount of additional heat would cross some threshold, though -- but the article did point out that these ICs run much hotter than normal ICs (with the current tech, anyway).

Re:Transparent?

[Red Flayer]

Either way, you've got a rigid IC in a stretching layer, with the problems that entails. Unless they can make an IC that works even when stretched and contracted multiple times, in which case I think that's a bigger development than a transparent IC.

Re:Transparent?

[woolio]

Then again, 512k should be enough memory for anyone, and there will never be a market for more than five computers in the US.

I thought 512k wasn't necessarily enough memory.... Some people might want to use 640k.

Re:Transparent?

[x2A]

"but the article did point out that these ICs run much hotter than normal ICs"

It does? Is there another page that I can't see? Or is it cryptic?

Re:Transparent?

[modecx]

I didn't read anything in this article that said that these ICs run "much hotter than normal ICs". The *only* reference to possible power/heat issues was in the paragraph:

"Wager noted several remaining challenges that must be overcome before the technology is fully commercialized, including scaling the technology up to larger sizes, and the development of a "P-channel" device. The latter would reduce power consumption and allow transparent chips to implement both analog and digital processing, Wager said."

How that translates to "much hotter", I just don't know... Maybe that could mean they run "a bit hotter", or "marginally hotter", but "much hotter"? There's hardly enough information to infer that conclusion.

At any rate, it's entirely unclear as to exactly what kind of transistors they've been able to use in this IC. They say they need to develop the transparent equivalent of a p-channel FET transistor. This was state of the art in the 1960s, for crimeney sake! If they haven't got this down, any potential use they have at this point would be pretty basic... But that's why they're doing it. To make it better, to make it useful.

Also, even if any chip to be implanted between glass put out as much as a few Watts, it wouldn't be a problem. Glass has a low heat transfer coefficient, but it's not THAT low... Look at your rear window defrosters! If glass were as insanely insulative as you make it out to be, the entire concept just wouldn't work so well, now would it? Also, don't forget that although glass is transparent to us, it's still quite capable of radiating heat.

Re:Transparent?

[somersault]

from the first paragraph in TFA:

"The technology can enable extremely inexpensive electronics for use in "throw away" devices"

so yes that shows that they will be cheaper to manufacture, and yes as you scale up, things always get cheaper (per final product) as it's cheaper to keep producing the same thing, than to re-tool to produce a different item.

Re:Transparent?

[Red Flayer]

Well, first, they make no claim of being cheaper to mfr than traditional ICs.

Second, until it's scaled up, the price will be more expensive than traditional ICs. As you say, "it's cheaper to keep producing the same thing, than to re-tool to produce a different item."

So why retool to use these chips when standard chips will work fine for most applications?

Re:Transparent?

[somersault]

Obviously the chips wouldnt be used for 'most applications' that we have today, where you never even see the internals of a device anyway, but they could be use for either novelty items like an almost completely transparent iPod/phone/whatever (I'm guessing everything but the battery could be transparent), or very useful things like displays on a car windshield like the article mentions (though you could do the same thing with the HUD technology they use in 'planes). I'm sure people will come up with very useful applications for the technology :)

3-D ICs?

[Dr. Eggman]

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?

Invisable

[NoMorePoints.com]

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

Espionage Applications

[Anonymous Coward]

My first thought on reading this is that there might be significant espionage applications for this kind of thing.

Does everything!

[SEWilco]

the technology might result in more efficient solar cells or improvements and LCD displays

...and fusion power within ten years.

"Completely transparent"?

[Anonymous Coward]

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?

Re:"Completely transparent"?

[HermanAB]

Depends on the angle. It does reflect some light. It has a gold hue where there are conductors and a green hue where not. If viewed head on, you can see through it. Though it is somewhat less transparant than cheap home window glass, it is more transparant than gold flashed office window glass.

Give me my HUD

[amliebsch]

I'm crossing my fingers that this might eventually result in a transparent LED. Think of the display possibilities!

Re:Give me my HUD

[Jace of Fuse!]

You probably have several in your house right now. If you look into them they show you an exact representation of the world outside.

Pictures Attached

[StikyPad]

 

 

Re:Pictures Attached

[markusbkoch]

I don't see a thing

Re:Pictures Attached

[rohlfinator]

Are those pictures to scale?

Re:Pictures Attached

[Anne_Nonymous]

All I see is a translucent X.

Try rehosting.

Re:Pictures Attached

[StikyPad]

I think you just get more leeway when you're logged in w/good karma.

Government use

[Yoik]

These will be great for automated decision making systems used by regulatory agencies.

True transparency in government !

Air guitars, for the low price of $500!

[r_jensen11]

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

This isnt the first by a long shot.

[nurb432]

Sharp did this a while ago with a Z80 core.

http://www.z80.info/sharp/z80_glas.htm

Re:This isnt the first by a long shot.

[strider44]

That doesn't look completely transparent! What's with all the black lines up and down the chip? In this story it's all transparent (well translucent at least) so there's no black lines.

Terminology

[Transcendent]

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.

Re:Terminology

[Kennric]

No, it's transparent. The circuitry itself is transparent - a lot of research has gone into developing semiconductors with the correct band structure to pass most of the visible spectrum but still act as semiconductors. Translucency generally refers to materials that disperse light, rendering images blurry or unrecognisable, while transparent materials maintain the integrity of the transmitted image, even if dimmed or colored. (Your semantics may vary.)

These circuits are indeed made from transparent (over a wide range of the visible spectrum) semiconductors, and they are indeed printed on glass. I am not involved with the research, but I know Dr. Wager, whose team developed the circuits, and I know a few of the physicists who developed the actual materials used. Very neat stuff.

Re:Terminology

[Transcendent]

Thanks for the info, actually. I was reading the article looking for more technical details about the actual material used (assuming some amorphous compound since its printed on glass), doping techniques, and how it stacks up physically against other semiconductor materials. Or maybe they don't want to say what it is since it's part of their secret, heh. Would be cool if they could make it a crystalline compound (again, wanted to know that from the article if that's even possible with what they're using) and have a full wafer.

Since they didn't mention the actual material, I had to go off the pictures (which didn't look to transparent to me, guess it was just the angle).

RAS Syndrome

[Ancil]

LCD displays (liquid crystal displays)

So much redundant, repeated information in one redundant, repetitive place.

Please, ScuttleMonkey, just say no to RAS Syndrome!

Summary

[MANYplaces84]

Nothing to see here please move along...

Re:Summary

[MANYplaces84]

I did a Ctrl+F search to see if anyone posted it yet, and I guess his wasn't expanded at the time. So when mine was posted, it was visible. Mine got modded higher. I came back an hour later, and saw mine up near the top of the page, only to realize someone else had posted it... but before me. It's weird that his wasn't displayed first.

transparent chips?

[atarione]

could this mean M$ windows for windows is on the horizon??

ok admit it ... that was the best joke you've read in the last .5 seconds????

Re:transparent chips?

[GrumblyStuff]

Whatever. Just so long as I can see blue sky all day.

Waitaminute, that's bsod. :(

Mod parent redundant

[dotgain]

N/T

Imagine. . .

[PeeZee]

A beowulf cluster of those!

Re:Imagine. . .

[Zerbs]

... I'm trying to, but somehow I'm just not seeing it.

Skeptical

[JBEdgeworth]

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.

sorry, had to do it

[Sathias]

If thats his pizza, I'm IC Whatever!

Nothing

[Doytch]

Nothing to see here...

Maybe it's just me

[Omega Blue]

I can see them "completely" transparent ICs.

Gotta check my eyes. Seeing things I shouldn't have.

Re:Eye IC -- hrmmm

[Zantetsuken]

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...

"LCD displays"

[Hao Wu]

Is that like an "SUV vehicle"?

Can you imagine, though...

[Tavor]

If your windows also displayed your Windows?

(or your Mac or Linux, for that matter?)

Hot!

[Kafteinn]

Doesn't this affect heat release and tolerance?
Real time

IC or !IC

[SpectralDesign]

You say IC, but I say !IC

Re:IC or !IC

[Ohreally_factor]

If you lived in Cupertino, you'd be saying, "iC".

No it WOULD be good.

[Ungrounded Lightning]

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.)

Re:No it WOULD be good.

[smellsofbikes]

Thank you for pointing that out. My first thought was similarly "well, that'll make a lousy solar cell" but the idea that a layered stack could selectively absorb by wavelength is superb. Matching the bandgap to the wavelength to maximise efficiency and minimize thermal heating... that's really cool. I'm going to be walking around mumbling about clever people all day.

Throwaway use

[Repton]

Great for throwaway devices? So, naturally, they've put plenty of work into minimizing the environmental effects of this? ...right?

I made some of these a long time ago...

[DieByWire]

I just couldn't figure out where to attach the wires.

One thing to say...

[jnadke]

4w3s0m3! N0w 1 c4n 4ch13v3 my ult1m4t3 l33tn3ss w1th 4 fully tr4nsp4r3nt c0mput4r.

Re:One thing to say...

[johneee]

Never mind that, I have to go kill myself now, I actually was able to read and understand your entire post. Without using any translators.

What's more, I understood the reference.

And *urg* found it vaguely amusing.

so...

[hitmark]

when can i have glasses with buildt in display that can talk to my pda-phone?

Hackers has prior art...

[jnadke]

This is so 1995 technology.

The world's most subtle fat mama joke

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"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.

Re:Obligatory slashdot meme post

[Anne_Nonymous]

... so Wonder Woman said, "What was that?", and the Invisible Man says, "I don't know, but my ass sure hurts".

Reality check.

[NotQuiteReal]

Q: So, naturally, they've put plenty of work into minimizing the environmental effects of this?

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].

yeah, right

[pintomp3]

i'll believe it when i see it..

green cheese

[epine]

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.

Re:WOW

[KillerDeathRobot]

I totally dig on chicks with squished heads.

Re:WOW

[marnargulus]

It is like she has 5 chins of hottness!

Windshields???

[jamesh]

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)

Re:Eye IC -- hrmmm

[x2A]

Could put lil magnets on your eyelids so it charges 'em every time you blink! :-p

hourly fee is enough to drive most away

[Animaether]

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...

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 :) ) and you have to dig for the solution for the specific board in question.

Re:hourly fee is enough to drive most away

[somersault]

I'm not an electrician, but it sounds like when the colour/brightness/whatever-general-output-that-par t-of-the-circuit-regulates changes dramatically then something messes up..? Hehe.. well didn't know TVs could be that temperamental.

OSU documents

[qeorqe]

Searches for "transparent" and "transparent 2006" at OSU produced a number of results.

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

Quantum Leap?

[kninja]

This guy is a professor of Electrical Engineering, and yet is quoted as saying:

"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.

Re:Quantum Leap?

[jackstack]

> I hope the journalist just spiced up the quote - because most professors > > wouldn't be caught dead saying something like that. actually, no. he's not just a professor. he's a researcher. a LOT of research is *heavily* influenced by applicability toward practical use/commercial applications/marketability.

You insensitive clod!

[Chris Pimlott]

While the rest of us were mourning, you went out and bought a new TV? For shame!

Neato pic

[Baby Duck]

Screw Transparent ICs, gimme three dozen of those Purple Pimp gloves!

Re:Neato pic

[somersault]

:D it's so true

Woot I go to that school!

[Sirsnooze]

yay go Beavers!!!

Re:wahey! did they lose a Sale?

[blackest_k]

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 ?

Re:More efficient solar cells

[catprog]

The main problem with solar cells actualy is the cost per watt not efficiency. Less efficiency just means you need more of them.

Costly throw away items

[Nuffsaid]

for use in "throw away" devices, and is expected to be used in automobile windshields

Your windshield is sure to become a "throw away" device, if you go around driving while using the DVD player embedded into it!

The Japanese Govt., that's who

[DrSkwid]

"2nd hand electronics sales will soon be illegal in Japan"

http://www.akihabaranews.com/news-11230-X.html

Re: older TVs

[vikks]

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.

Re:aaargh

[Animaether]

Different carrier signal?

Roughly right - related anyway.

The cause is in the Sync Pulse. When a TV receives that pulse, it can sync the beam up with the actual frames being broadcast. The Sync Pulse itself has to be within a particular region of levels below the 'black' level for the TV circuitry to identify it as such.

Now here's the kicker... many TV stations record the sync pulse with any footage, store it away, and re-use it. However, when they do so, a very slight difference in the Sync Pulse level can often be observed. This shouldn't be an issue, but if your TV is in the triggerhappy state mentioned, it just might say "that's no Sync Pulse" when it gets the lower level. Of course, when they're broadcasting the news, it's Live TV, and the Sync Pulse is generated on-the-fly, and thus at full strength.

That's why the TV will display fine when the News is on, until an earlier report is shown, and then is fine again once they go back to the anchorman/woman/team :)

More details on Sync Pulse: http://freespace.virgin.net/ljmayes.mal/var/tvsync .htm

not quite completely transparent

[sl4shd0rk]

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?

Re:not quite completely transparent

[bearl]

Agreed. Especially if the headline contains the pointless "completely." I'd expect something "completely transparent" to be, well, invisible.

I suppose it will also "literally make you explode with excitement when you see it in action."

Ahhh, I remember when words meant things, and you could read some text and know what the text was describing. Now words just fill space, but I guess that's what an advertising-driven news site is about.

Finally! References!

[Open_The_Box]

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!

Re:aaargh

[genka]

I am not sure if you are right. All TV stations employ Time Base Correctors for their analog signals. TBCs recreate the sync pulses.

The source

[Woogiemonger]

First transparent aluminum... now this! I know you're among us, Scotty! Beam me up, damn you!!

More bad jokes.

[Cade144]

"I see," said the Blind Man, as he picked up his hammer and saw.

Whoa

[billybob]

Hey, I know the girl on the very left in this pic! Just kinda weird... :)

Obligatory Scotty quote

[seven of five]

The IC's are doped with transparent aluminum.

From the department of redundancy department

[g0bshiTe]

That was redundant.

Re:aaargh

[Animaether]

the bit about the TV stations is just the explanation I got from a local broadcaster - I'm not sure if it works differently in different countries/etc. I had to ring them up because I hadn't the foggiest what would be different in their 'journaal' (etc. o'clock news) broadcast when they were showing the anchor/live footage versus pre-taped footage and regular shows.. they're the ones suggesting I poke at the sync pulse circuitry :)

The sync pulse itself had a measurably lesser intensity on the scope when we hooked it up to check... we ended up tuning to CNN as that's almost all live, with the exception of the commercials. commercials cut in, sync pulse intensity dropped, TV picture drops (audio keeps going). commercials cut out, sync pulse intensity increased, TV picture back once more.

How do you tell them apart??

[tinkertim]

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 :)

Re:Suprisingly, not so

[catprog]

Which comes back to my point about cost per watt (to install them).

Anyway using http://www.greenandgoldenergy.com.au/ 15 years pay-back.