TRRAM- The new milestone of Transparent

Electronic Systems

Ever wondered you could use totally transparent electronic devices
say computer monitors and televisions. Clear electronic devices may
make your room or wall more spacious by allowing electronic
devices to be consolidated and stacked in small clear spaces. The
new transparent devices will drive electronics in a new direction.
TRRAM (Transparent Resistive Random Access Memory) is
basically the first and the most important part involved in making a
transparent electronic device.
A group of scientists at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and
Technology (KAIST) have fabricated a working computer chip that
is almost completely clear - the first of its kind. The new chip is
similar in type to an existing technology known as complementary
metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) memory - common commercial
chips that provide the data storage for USB flash drives and other
devices. Like CMOS devices, the new chip provides "non-volatile"
memory, meaning that it stores digital information without losing
data when it is powered off. The Korean team is also developing a
TRRAM using flexible materials. By integrating TRRAM device
with other transparent electronic components, a total see-through
embedded electronic system can be created.
Technically, TRRAM devices rely upon the existing technology
known as Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM), which is
already in commercial development. RRAM is built using metal
oxide materials, which are transparent. TRRAM chip is built by
sandwiching these metal oxide materials between equally
transparent electrodes and substrates and hence it contributes to the
transparent look of the RAM.
TRRAM will become one of the alternative devices to the current
CMOS-based flash memory in the near future. The new devices have
the potential to be manufactured cheaply because any transparent
material can be utilized as substrate and electrode. They also may
not require incorporating rare elements such as Indium. With
transparent chips it will be possible to implement electronic
hardware into the windshield of a car; it can be used in sunglasses or
highly-fashioned transparent cell phones. It widens the area in which
electronic devices can be implemented, making many concepts look
much closer to the real life. Bendable screens, transparent chips - all
these improvements are making electronics more flexible, stylish and
easy to use.
This development can truly revolutionize the world of modern
devices and gadgets. But transparent chips have some disadvantages
too. Transparent phones would be much easier to hide or lose, and
soldering a fully transparent chip is also not easy. Also the durability
of these chips is in question.
So let us see how this technology works out. Though this technology
doesn't have major disadvantages or drawbacks at present that may
prevent it from being widely used but still it may take time for
TRRAM to be used as a working prototype.