UV light used to create transparent semiconductors
SEP 11, 2012
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.026327
Ars Technica : Semiconductors created from metal oxides have high efficiencies and form transparent materials, but the traditional process for creating them requires temperatures over 350º C. That is too hot for the plastics that allow flexibility in the resulting semiconductors. However, researchers led by Yong-Hoon Kim of the Korea Electronics Technology Institute in Seongnam, South Korea, successfully used UV light to condense a semiconducting film out of a solution at room temperature. The UV light heated the film to 150º C, significantly cooler than the traditional annealing process. The resulting semiconductors were just as efficient as those formed at higher temperatures. The new process may allow for the creation of inexpensive, flexible semiconductors.
© 2012 American Institute of Physics
