New display technology is thinner, lighter than ever

This technology is so thin, it can be built directly into a pair of contact lenses. And with nanometre -sized pixels, it offers better resolution than any screen on the market.

Researchers at Oxford University in the UK say their new screen technology can take smart displays beyond computers and smartphones. At just a few nanometres thick, their new displays have the potential to be mounted onto flexible and transparent surfaces such as car windshields and contact lenses.

The technology uses special materials called ‘phase-change materials’ that can change their structure when they’re heated or cooled. The team, led by Associate Professor of Materials, Harish Bhaskaran, explored the potential of using phase-change materials such as germanium antimony tellurium (GST) to reflect different coloured lights.

"They took a single layer of GST just nanometres thick and sandwiched it between two ultra-thin layers of a transparent conductor, and stuck that on top of a mirrored surface,” says Tim Dean at ABC Science Online. "The researchers predicted that by varying the thickness of one of the transparent layers, they could change the colour of light that was reflected back, and by changing the phase of the GST they could switch it from one colour to another.”

A prototype was built and the team was able to change it from grey to blue when it was heated. They then tried to produce a range of different colours and were successful. They drew images on the surface using an atomic force microscope.