Touchscreens May Die Sooner!!
Your IPhone may soon be priceless because soon ( if the scientists are not able to find a replacement for the metal used for manufacturing a touch screen) it will go extinct!
I was reading the IEEE Journal for this month and it says that the metal that is used in the manufacturing of modern day touch screens i.e; Indium Tin Oxide or just ITO will soon be very rare or practically unavailable. The metal Indium is currently priced at 1000$ per Kilogram in the market which was 100$ per kilo at the start of 2008. Indium excavation occurs with Zinc mining and it is very inlikely that the Indium reserves are gonna last little more than 10 years.
According to the article the popular touch sensitive screen is made by two transparent plastic sheets coated with highly clear and conducting ITO layers. These sheets are then placed over the phone circuit board act as the the screen of the Phone. When the user touches the screen the sheets join due to the impact and complete the circuit because of the ITO coating. This is highly reliant of the ITO availability in the market.
Research is on to replace Indium with a transparent yet highly conducting metal to replace ITO. Some companies have however claimed of replacing ITO with a conducting polymer but not in a very reliable fashion.
So whatever be the case with Scientists, lets get prepared with our touch screens and IPhones and ITouchs and MacBook Airs, HTCs and Blackberry Storms to die their natural technological death!!
I was reading the IEEE Journal for this month and it says that the metal that is used in the manufacturing of modern day touch screens i.e; Indium Tin Oxide or just ITO will soon be very rare or practically unavailable. The metal Indium is currently priced at 1000$ per Kilogram in the market which was 100$ per kilo at the start of 2008. Indium excavation occurs with Zinc mining and it is very inlikely that the Indium reserves are gonna last little more than 10 years.
According to the article the popular touch sensitive screen is made by two transparent plastic sheets coated with highly clear and conducting ITO layers. These sheets are then placed over the phone circuit board act as the the screen of the Phone. When the user touches the screen the sheets join due to the impact and complete the circuit because of the ITO coating. This is highly reliant of the ITO availability in the market.
Research is on to replace Indium with a transparent yet highly conducting metal to replace ITO. Some companies have however claimed of replacing ITO with a conducting polymer but not in a very reliable fashion.
So whatever be the case with Scientists, lets get prepared with our touch screens and IPhones and ITouchs and MacBook Airs, HTCs and Blackberry Storms to die their natural technological death!!
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