Transient electronic device dissolves in water.
Transient Electronics is a new technology to create electronic devices, endowed with an unusual ability to dissolve without residue after use. Range of possible applications of these devices include medical implants, degradable sensors monitoring environmental quality, consumer electronics (solution or buried in the garden of the old phone and bought a new one), etc.
The researchers worked with the traditional materials used in the manufacture of integrated circuits, that is, with silicon and magnesium (instead of silver), only in the form of ultra-encapsulated in silk protein. Enumerate: magnesium electrodes and interconnects, magnesium oxide as a gate dielectric and intermediate layers of very thin silicon films (nanomembranami) as standard semiconductors. Silicon dissolves in the body fluids, but very slowly (the process can take hundreds and thousands of years, depending on the size of the semiconductor device.) The advantage of silicon nanomembranes just that they are thin enough to completely dissolve in a few drops of water in a few days or weeks, depending on their thickness. On the other hand, the thickness enough to produce high quality semiconductor devices such as transistors, diodes, etc.
Just note that the amount of silicon and magnesium, used for the manufacture of implantable devices, transient, far less than what is found in multivitamin tablets, and even less than the normal physiological level.
By transient electronic devices are encapsulated in a layer of silk and does not require further surgical extraction when used as medimplantatov. Interestingly, the consumer electronics, obtained by this technology can be successfully used as a kind of fertilizer for the plants, and not just thrown away after each upgrade. In this philosophy transient electronics is diametrically opposed to the philosophy of traditional electronics, which is being developed with the requirement as soon as possible a long physical and electronic stability. Transient Electronics has comparable performance, but it is able to completely dissolve in the environment after a certain period of time - from a few minutes to several years.
All the details of the study can be found in the journal Science.
Replacing the more usual silver reactive magnesium is dictated by the same considerations as in the use of silicon nanomembranes rather thick plates - solubility. Reactivity of magnesium is not welcome in traditional electronics, but it could not be better suited for the needs of the electronics transient: magnesium dissolves quickly to form a useful (in reasonable quantities) salts.
Solubility controlled device structure as silk protein, which acts as a substrate and encapsulating material. Silk - widely used in medicine biologically harmless material, easily degradable in biological media. Researchers at Tufts University have found a way to adjust its properties, which allows you to change the rate of its biodegradation in a wide range.
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