Thin-film transistors, already indispensable in a number of portable electronics, would benefit from optical transparency and compatibility with flexible, lightweight plastics. Transistors with these qualities would be a major advance if they could be fabricated by a scalable, large-area process. Researchers Liang Wang, Myung-Han Yoon, Gang Lu, Yu Yang, Antonio Facchetti and Tobin Marks at the Northwestern University MRSEC have adopted a hybrid approach in developing â€Ëœinvisible' thin film transistors that heterogeneously integrate a transparent, inorganic semiconductor with a large carrier mobility and a nanoscopic, organic gate dielectric. For more, see Nature Materials, 5, 893-900 (2006) or contact: Northwestern Materials Research Center
