NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Honolulu, HI, United States, 08/10/2006 - Organic thin film transistors have attracted a great deal of attention as they are the critical components to fabricate low cost and large area flexible displays and sensors for future application in organic electronics.

owever, the major problem to use organic thin film transistor in logic circuits is the high operating voltage required. Researchers in India believe this problem can be solved by using organic materials with high dielectric constant as gate dielectrics.

Prior to a recent paper by researchers in India there was no organic compound with high permittivity known in the literature. Dr. Shyamal Saha, together with colleague Dipankar Chakravorty, both from the Unit on Nanoscience at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science published their findings, titled "One-dimensional organic giant dielectrics" in the July 28, 2006 online edition of Applied Physics Letters.

The dielectric properties of nanomaterials has generated strong interests in the scientific community and nanomaterials having such properties are increasingly being referred to as "nanodielectrics". In general, a nanodielectric would consist of a single or multi-component dielectric possessing nanostructures, the presence of which results in the change of one or several of its dielectric properties.

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By Michael Berger, Copyright 2006 Nanowerk LLC.
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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday said it has formed an internal task force to focus on the use of nanotechnology materials in drugs, medical instruments, and other products regulated by the agency.

"As this exciting new area of science develops, FDA must be positioned to address both health promotion and protection challenges that it may present," the agency's acting commissioner, Andrew von Eschenbach, said in a statement. "Through this task force, we are leveraging our expertise and resources to guide the science and technology in the development of nanotechnology-based applications."

The task force announcement was made ahead of a keynote address von Eschenbach was scheduled to deliver at IBC Life Sciences' annual Drug Discovery Technology & Development conference. The conference's theme, according to IBC, centers on providing scientific solutions and business strategies to help bring drugs to the market more quickly.

A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of atoms and molecules to create new products and processes, and significant time and money is being invested in its potential for new drugs and medical instruments.

The task force will chair a public meeting on Oct. 10 at which develpoments in nanotechnology materials that pertain to FDA-regulated products will discussed.

Initial findings and recommendations of the task force are due be delivered to the acting commissioner withhin nine months of the meeting.
Carolyn Pritchard is a reporter for MarketWatch in San Francisco.

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