Transparent Chips Could Usher in New Era, But Outlook Is a Bit Blurry By BOB SECHLER Wall Street Journal
June 29, 2006; Page B5 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115154020834893691.html?mod=technology_main_promo_left Computer chips get smaller and faster all the time. Now researchers have gone a step further by creating a chip that is transparent. A team led by Oregon State University Prof. John Wager recently unveiled a basic circuit made of a see-through material known as indium gallium oxide. Backers believe such chips could help usher in an era of transparent electronics, where windows double as solar cells or see-through chips could be overlaid on just about any surface. "You could look at a window as a new way of having electronic functionality," Mr. Wager said, so that a see-through display could become simple computers operated by touch, for example. He acknowledges such uses are at least five years away because of substantial work needed to develop the technology. But even so, the approach has received a vote of confidence from Hewlett-Packard Co., which recently licensed the research for potential commercial applications. H-P is intrigued by the transparency as well as by the potential that the material could be useful in the development of "printable" circuits. "I feel pretty bullish on this," said Timothy Weber, director of H-P's Advanced Materials and Processes Laboratory. In addition to its transparency, indium gallium oxide and similar substances that Mr. Wager has been working with might be useful in developing flexible circuits that could be produced inexpensively with industrial printing machines instead of manufactured in costly fabrication plants. Conventional state-of-the-art chip plants cost about $3 billion. Such "printable" circuits wouldn't rival the speed and power of traditional silicon-based chips, but the potentially lower manufacturing costs could be ideal for disposable applications. Uses might include so-called smart product packaging, which might signal consumers when an expiration date has passed, for instance. Mr. Weber emphasized that the technology is still in the research phase. He declined to discuss a potential product road map, except to say printable circuits may have commercial applications sooner than transparent electronics. But "as we go down these paths, we'll start to create products that are transparent," he said. Still, some tech-sector observers say they don't see an obvious market for the transparency aspect of the research team's work, even as they call the concept interesting. "From a scientific perspective, [a transparent circuit] may be the most incredible thing known to man," said Daniel Morgan, a portfolio manager for Synovus Investment Advisors who handles technology investments. But Mr. Morgan said he is unclear exactly what type of commercial products would emerge. He noted that chips already have been miniaturized through conventional means to the point they are almost unnoticeable, while products that use them, such as hand-held game machines and mobile phones, have been greatly reduced in size. In addition, he said, nanotechnology has the potential to make circuits even smaller. David Y. Chen, a general partner at OVP Venture Partners in Portland, Ore., is intrigued by the possibility that innovative ways will be found to incorporate transparency in future devices. But even he agrees it is uncertain what those will be. Aside from the transparency, he thinks the material holds substantial promise in the development of printable circuits. OVP Venture Partners, which has $750 million under management, hasn't invested in the technology but is "spending a lot of time looking at it," Mr. Chen said. Transparent inorganic materials that conduct electricity, known as transparent conductive oxides, have been studied for decades and are commonly used to make see-through wiring for things such as laptop-computer displays. But the transparent materials in widespread use now lack the properties necessary to vary or regulate electric current running through them, so they can't be used to make computer chips. Chips must be able to regulate the flow of electricity to process information. Mr. Wager has been modifying the see-through material in various ways, reducing its conductivity and allowing the current to be controlled electronically. The material is considered a good candidate for producing printable circuits because it is thin, flexible, highly "etchable" and relatively inexpensive to begin with. Mr. Wager estimates a plant to "print" such circuits would cost under $100 million. The transparency quality of the chips "is interesting and novel, but we're still looking around" for a can't-miss application, Mr. Wager said. "The one that comes to mind is transparent displays, where you could display information on a car window or an office window or any sort of transparent surface." ================================================= George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923 Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927 Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-3011 Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
