Communications of the ACM
Roll-Up Digital Screens Now Closer to Reality
Source-Gated-Transistor technology could enable the wide availability of affordable, flexible electronics.
Credit: Forbes
Researchers at the University of Surrey and Philips have developed the Source-Gated-Transistor (SGT), technology that could enable affordable flexible electronics, such as roll-up displays, to become widely available.
The researchers found that SGTs can be applied to many electronic designs of an analog nature, as well as next-generation digital circuits. SGTs control the electric current as it enters a semiconductor, which decreases the odds of circuit malfunction, improves energy efficiency, and keeps fabrication costs to a minimum. The researchers say these properties make SGTs ideal for next-generation electronic devices, and could enable digital technologies to be incorporated into wearable designs built using flexible plastics or clothing textiles.
"Whilst SGTs can be applied to mainstream materials such as silicon, used widely in the production of current consumer devices, it is the potential to apply them to new materials such as graphene that makes this research so crucial," says University of Surrey professor Ravi Silva.
By simplifying such devices and making them very affordable, the mainstreaming of next-generation gadgets could happen sooner than expected, says Surrey researcher Radu Sporea. The technology also could be applied to light-emitting diode lighting, because it could be used either in the control circuitry or in the light-emitting-element drivers.
From EE Times
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