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UK University Creates First Inkjet-Printed Graphene Circuit
MrSeb writes with this ExtremeTech excerpt aimed at the graphene enthusiasts out there: "You can add another crazy characteristic to graphene's ever-expanding list of 'wonder material' properties: It can now be used to create flexible, transparent thin-film transistors. ... using an inkjet printer. The discovery comes from researchers at the University of Cambridge, UK, who were trying to ameliorate the lackluster performance of existing inkjet-printed electronics. It's already possible to print standard CMOS transistors using different ferroelectric polymer inks, but the resultant circuit is so slow that it can't actually function as a computer. If graphene could replace or augment the interconnects or transistors, these circuits would be a lot faster — and that's what these Cambridge engineers have done. Furthermore, if you didn't think that was cool enough, the graphene-based ink that they've developed is transparent, too."
well i think this is a great idea, printable circuits would make it much easier for the electronics hobbiest to build electronics. perhaps with printable circuits people might begin printing their circuits to look like their schematics. On the cons side its this sort of confusing technology that delayed me and i think stopped other people all together from attempting electronics, i was always interested in electronics but whenever i would crack open a commerical device to look at the circuits and attempt to gain some form of understanding as to how it works, the circuit would be laid out in some space saving non reabable/understandable design. this makes the circuits look overly complex and thus scares away people who otherwise might try their hand at it.
I don't need someone to tell me where Cambridge is.
I hope they are using Genuine EPSON Graphene Inks.
There are no karma whores, only moderation johns
This was a matter of time, given that they could do regular transistors and graphene is much simpler. What will be interesting, however, is what people do with this. There have been all kinds of interesting attempts at novel engineering (liquid crystal memories, for example) that either never got funded to completion or ended up going nowhere.
The latter is as it should be. There is no point in research if you know the results beforehand. It is merely fraud to only do what you know will work. The former is typical bigotry against those who actually do the real work in society.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
"but the resultant circuit is so slow that it can't actually function as a computer"
They just need to upgrade to Windows 7.
I like the idea of a transparent circuit, however when it comes to troubleshooting it or trying to find a break in it, transparent might not be the best thing...
still, interesting. I am wondering if they can add something to the graphene to make it more visible without taking away some of graphenes properties...
Those who live by the sword, get shot by those who live by the gun...
6809 processor on a sheet of paper.
And could we squeeze in a 6821, and a 6847? (Still lots of NTSC TVs not in the land fills. Intel deserves to die for HDCP.)
Capacitive keyboard? (Not a whole lot worse than the chiclet keyboards.)
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
So, will this lead to downloadable (based on open source hardware and OS) devices? And downloadable designs for your devices as well?
You could now print an invisible computer onto a piece of paper?
More awesome than can be described.
I'll bet it causes cancer.
Inkjet printers are pretty much the bane of all technology. I would strongly prefer that they be used as little as possible.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
It is especially confusing because the University of Kentucky is referred to as UK in the states. Though I guess UK University would be redundant in that instance.
Technically, therefore, Harvard was founded by members of the University of Cambridge.
The old joke is that graduates of Oxford intend to run the country (which they almost invariably do) while graduates of Cambridge don't care who runs the country so long as they get to do something interesting. Given how immensely successful Harvard has been, the rule obviously applied in this case.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Opens up a lot of possibilities ( once the bugs are worked out ). Not only can you make simple mechanical devices, but now you could create control systems for them too.
One of these days PirateBay will be more than music and video .. but torrents for actual 'stuff'..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
You really cannot compare a disposable bit of plastic with what inkjet technology is capable of. It's like saying that a BMW 5 series is useless for getting anywhere because Chinese kids' tricycles suck.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
The purist in me has a problem with the wording in the summary and first article.... I mean, it's one thing to say that the resultant circuits are too slow for any practical application as computers, but speed would have absolutely no bearing on whether or not computations can actually be performed with it, making the notion of the circuits being too slow to function as a computer a wholly worthless statement that even at best is very misleading, and at worst outright false.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
In Thunderbird the partial headline read 'inkjet-printed Grap' and so to me I thought it was...
'UK University Creates First Injet-Printed Crap', but people print crap all the time, what is different about their printed crap?
The real first Cambridge is the UK one. Cambridge, MA, USA was founded by students of the University of Cambridge, UK in the new world. Harvard was established first. Much later, MIT decided to make Cambridge. MA its own home. Despite these two giants, the University of Cambridge is a world leading university. Discounting it as a "UK University???" only shows utter ignorance.
ni hao sha gua!
Graphene isn't a semiconductor in the conventional sense, so the transistor-like structures that can be created with it don't have a full-off state. You can do some very interesting things with them, but nothing that looks like VLSI digital circuitry, unless you include conventional semiconductors as well. You'll more likely see it in analog applications, or as a component of VLSI circuits that include silicon as well.
prease to show papers, gweilo
I remember those 6809 can be found in the Web Camera, so don't be suprised by this news.
Yeah, I thought the 6309 was cool, too.
But it was not the direction Motorola intended to take the 6809, and may have played a part in their decision to leave the 6809 and return to single-stack architecture in their embedded products.
OS-9/6809 was cool, too.
I spent (wasted?) a lot of time trying to build an OS/run-time that combined the position independence of OS-9 with a split stack parameter passing paradigm. The 6809 just didn't quite have enough resources for that. (And the 6309 took the design the wrong direction for that.)
Still fascinated by the design of the 6809, still not sure why.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.