By Jon Gabay, contributing writer
A growing majority of people all around the world have access to cellular technology. Not only does this permit communication, but it also allows a certain level of computing capabilities to be carried around everywhere. The average person carries more computational power with them than was used in the last two world wars.
As cellular technology has evolved, phones have shrunk from large, bulky, multi-watt bag phones to small, sleek, pocket-sized, and even wristwatch-sized devices. But even these are easily lost, stolen, dropped, and damaged. We also depend on our phones.
Cellular connectivity is moving from a luxury to a necessity — not just for emergency communications, but for guidance, information, amusement, and friend and family bonding. It’s no secret that the ability to make phones less intrusive and more friendly is a big push.
Gold foil peeled from single crystal silicon. Image source: Missouri University.
As we move toward becoming cyborg-like creatures, wearables and even implanted technologies will replace our discrete carried technologies, and phones fall under this category (as do medical devices). Recent advancements at Missouri University Science and Technology division have shown that it’s feasible and beneficial to grow single molecules of silicon on ultra-thin 7-nanometer-wide gold foil to provide semiconductor circuitry that’s ultra-thin and overcomes many of the problems associated with modern semiconductors.
Presently, flexible circuit materials are plastic and polymer-based. The ability to make single-molecule-wide silicon crystals deposited on gold circuit boards means that higher efficiency and reduction of heat (due to the elimination of a phenomenon called grain boundaries) is possible. This, coupled with high durability and even higher-potential functional density, will push the abilities and uses for mobile cellular, medical, and connected devices to even higher levels of popularity and necessity.
Normally, silicon would be fragile, especially as the substrate gets thin, but bonded to the flexible and relatively soft gold materials, it offers two benefits.
Testing shows that there is virtually no change in resistance, even after thousands of bending operations. The other benefit is that gold will not oxidize, so exposure to oxygen, water, and other caustic oxidizers shouldn’t damage them.
Combined with the flexible and point source emitter style organic LED display, technologies can provide wearable phones and computers with touch and speech interfaces. Another benefit of gold foil is that it’s biologically non-reactive, making it not only suited for long-term skin exposure, but also for implanted technologies.
These could be medical monitors, medication dispensers, or even phones. Speech can be heard inside the body, and a technique called inter-cranial audio modulation will let people hear inside their heads without any speakers or ear buds.
According to Doctor Dean Rubine, an MIT and Bell Labs researcher and creator of many of the gesture-based technologies we take for granted today, “We are approaching a point where our devices will be more intrusive while becoming less obtrusive. Is this progress?”
It could be, especially when it’s dangerous and/or illegal to text, email, surf, or use Facebook while driving and even walking. But will it bring us closer together or more isolated in a crowd?
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