UK developed phase-change material has host of applications

The new material, which is to be commercialised by spin-out company, Bodle Technologies, is based on research carried out at the University’s Department of Materials into the electrical and optical properties of phase change materials (materials that can change from an amorphous to a crystalline state).

Led by Prof Harish Bhaskaran and postdoctoral researcher Peiman Hosseini, the group, which reported its initial findings in Nature last year, found that by sandwiching a seven nanometre thick layer of a phase change material (GST) between two layers of a transparent electrode they could use a tiny current to ‘draw’ images within the sandwich ‘stack’.

Initially still images were created using an atomic force microscope but the team went on to demonstrate that such tiny ‘stacks’ can be turned into prototype pixel-like devices. These ‘nano-pixels’ – just 300 by 300 nanometres in size – can be electrically switched ‘on and off’ at will, creating the coloured dots that would form the building blocks of an extremely high-resolution display technology.