ACM TechNews
'Nanonet' Circuits Closer to Making Flexible Electronics Reality
Purdue University News (07/23/08)
Researchers from Purdue University and the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign have overcome a major obstacle in producing transistors
from networks of carbon nanotubes, which could lead to the printing of
circuits on plastic sheets for applications such as flexible displays or
electronic skins to cover structures such as aircraft to monitor for
cracks. The "nanonet" technology, circuits made of numerous carbon
nanotubes that randomly overlap in a fishnet-like structure, has been
hindered by metallic nanotubes that cause short circuits. The researchers
solved this problem by cutting the nanonet into strips, breaking the path
of metallic nanotubes and preventing short circuits. Purdue University led
research to develop and use simulations and mathematical models to design
the circuits and interpret and analyze data, and the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign led experimental laboratory research to build the
circuits. The nanonets are made of walled carbon nanotubes; metallic
nanotubes form during the manufacturing of carbon nanotubes, and link
together in threads that eventually stretch across the width of the
transistor, causing a short circuit. University of Illinois professor John
A. Rogers says while other researchers were looking into eliminating the
metallic nanotubes, this solution essentially removes the effect of the
metallic nanotubes without actually eliminating them. The researcher
created a flexible circuit containing more than 100 transistors, the
largest nanonet ever produced and the first demonstration of a working
nanonet circuit. The nanonet technology can also be produced at low
temperatures, allowing the transistors to be placed on flexible plastic
sheets that would melt under the high temperatures necessary to produce
silicon-based transistors. The advance could allow researchers to use
carbon nanotube transistors to produce high-performance, shock-resistant,
lightweight, flexible, and low-cost integrated circuits.
http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2008b/080723AlamFlexible.html
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