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Display screens

顯示屏

Going through a phase

相轉變

A new way to create electronic images

新的電子圖案顯示方法

Wave of the future?

未來之波

LIQUID-CRYSTAL displays are a familiar and ubiquitous technology. But if Harish Bhaskaran ofOxford University is right, their days may be numbered. The essential feature of LCDs is thatthe pixels in them switch between amorphous and crystal-like phases, which changes theiroptical properties. In a paper in this week's Nature, Dr Bhaskaran and his colleagues describesomething similar in a solid material. At the least, that would stop the messy abstract-impressionist patterns which happen when an LCD is dropped too hard. At most, it might openup a new range of applications, from clothes that change colour to dimmable windscreens.

液晶顯示屏是一項成熟而廣泛應用的技術。但如果牛津大學的Harish Bhaskaran的想法實現，液晶屏的好景也就沒幾天了。LCD的基本特征是其像素在非晶相和類晶相間轉化，因此改變其光學性質。在本周的《自然》雜志上，Bhaskaran博士及其同事陳述了一種類似的固體材料。至少該材質可以防止當LCD猛烈墜地后產生麻煩的抽象印象派圖案。最理想情況下，它會有新的應用范圍，從變色布料到可調光擋風玻璃。

Solid phase-change materials are already used to store data in optical memory disks. They arealso being considered for use in memory chips, because the switch between amorphous andcrystalline states alters their electrical properties in ways that can store electronic bits of data.Dr Bhaskaran, though, has shown that thin enough films of the right sort of material can bemade to change colour, too.

固態相變材料已經用于在光儲存盤中儲存數據。也可能被用于記憶芯片，因為其非晶態和晶態之間的轉變也改變了其電學性能，因此他們能儲存電子數據。然而，Bhaskaran博士展示了一種特定材料膜，在足夠薄的情況下也可以改變顏色。

This property would make them suitable both for displays that rely on reflected light (so-calledelectronic paper) and the older, backlit sort that rely on transmitted light. The resulting displayswould be thin and could be flexible if printed on the right material—increasing the range ofapplications they might be used in. And they would consume little power, since energy need beused only when a pixel has to be flipped from one phase to another.

這一性能將使其適合于反射光顯示(所謂電子紙)和早期的依賴透射光的背光顯示。所得顯示屏不僅薄，而且鋪在合適材料上時非常靈活，增加了其應用范圍。而且它消耗的功率更少，因為這種材料只需要在變相的時候消耗能量。

The researchers' material of choice is an alloy of germanium, antimony and tellurium. Both thecrystalline and the amorphous phases of this substance are stable at any temperature adevice is likely to experience, and thin films of it are more or less transparent. The powerneeded to effect the phase change could be fed to individual pixels by electrodes made ofindium tin oxide, which is also transparent.

研究人員選擇的材料是鎵、銻和碲合金。這一物質的晶態和非晶態在任何設備適用溫度下都很穩定。其薄膜也幾乎透明。要激發相轉變所需的能量可以由透明的銦錫氧化物電極向單個像素提供。

The colour of a pixel would depend not only on its phase, but also on its thickness, whichwould affect the way light waves being reflected within it interfere with one another, cancellingout some frequencies while amplifying others. (The effect is similar to the creation of colours bya thin layer of oil on a puddle.) Generally, the alloy layer needs to be thinner than 20nanometres for that to happen.

單個像素的顏色不僅取決于其相態，也同其厚度有關。厚度會影響光波在兩個像素間界面處的反射，削弱部分頻率，加強其他頻率。(此效應類似于池塘表面薄油層產生的色彩。)一般來說，合金層需要薄于20 nm才會發生這一現象。

To demonstrate their idea, the researchers sprayed films of their alloy onto pieces of silicon,quartz and plastic. They then used a device called an atomic-force microscope, which has atip a few nanometres across, to apply appropriate electric currents in a grid pattern acrossthe film's surface. This grid mimicked an of pixels, creating a stable pattern. The result,as their picture of a Japanese wave shows, is a recognisable image—if not, yet, a perfect one.

為了證明其觀點，研究人員將其合金鋪覆到硅，石英和塑料上。然后他們使用所謂原子力顯微鏡的設備來施加合適的電流在橫穿膜表面的網格上。原子力顯微鏡尖端僅有幾個納米大小。網格模仿像素排列，產生穩定的模式。他們對日本電波的拍攝結果是一個可識別的圖像，即便不可識別，也是非常完美的。

Adding the indium-tin-oxide electrodes is a more complicated process, but to show it can bedone in principle, Dr Bhaskaran has made a single pixel this way. Whether his idea will get offthe lab bench and into the shops remains to be seen. It is by no means the only suggestionaround for a new generation of display screens. But it looks plausible.

加入銦錫氧化物電極是更為復雜的過程，但是可以從原理上展示其過程。Bhaskaran用這種方式制備了單個像素。他的想法能否從實驗室走進商用還是未知。這絕不是新一代顯示屏的唯一方案，但頗得看好。

【重點講解】

1.between and 在...之間

例句:It is never wise to come between a man andhis wife.

干預人家夫婦間的事是不智的。

2.open up 開發;打開

例句:Lorna found that people were willing to openup to her.

洛娜發現人們愿意對她暢所欲言。

3.rely on 依靠;依賴;信賴

例句:He can rely on my support when the crunch comes.

關鍵時刻，他可以依靠我的支持。

4.likely to 傾向于;可能要

例句:The fires are likely to permanently deforest the land.

這些火災很可能會徹底毀掉這片土地上的森林。