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.
