Electronics: Researches claim breakthrough

Researchers at an American university and a multi-national company have reported their first example of an entirely new class of materials which could be used to make transparent transistors that are inexpensive, stable and environmentally benign.

The attempt of the researchers of Oregon State University and Hewlett Packard could lead to new industries and a broad range of new consumer products, scientists say.

The possibilities include electronic devices to be produced so cheaply that they could almost be one-time 'throw away' products, better large-area electronics such as flat panel screens, or flexible electronics that could be folded up for ease of transport, a university release said.

Findings about this new class of 'thin-film' materials, which are called 'amorphous heavy-metal cation multicomponent oxides', were just published in a professional journal, Applied Physics Letters.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and Army Research Office, it said.

This is a significant breakthrough in the emerging field of transparent electronics, experts say.

The new transistors are not only transparent, but they work extremely well and could have other advantages that will help them transcend carbon-based transistor materials, such as organics and polymers, that have been the focus of hundreds of millions of dollars of research around the world, it said.