Current semiconductor technology is based on silicon, gallium arsenide (GaAs), and other opaque materials. But a promising alternative, metal oxide semiconductors (consisting of molecules with both metallic and oxygen atoms) are very efficient, and happen to be transparent. However, fabricating them by ordinary means requires extremely high temperatures, high enough to melt the types of polymers that structure the devices.
A new method for making metal oxide devices at much lower temperatures uses ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Yong-Hoon Kim and colleagues used UV light to chemically activate metal particles in a chemical solution; the new metal oxide molecules condensed out of the solution, forming a thin semiconducting film. The process can be performed at room temperature—far lower than the 350° temperatures typical of metal oxide fabrication.
via ars technica
