Transient Electronics Take Shape

One of the intriguing aspects of the popular 1960s television show "Mission Impossible" was the opening sequence of every episode, which featured a secret agent listening to a recorded message about an upcoming mission. At the end of the recording each week, the tape would sizzle, crackle, and disintegrate into a heap of smoke and debris, ensuring no one else could access the top-secret information it contained. Until recently, self-destructing electronic systems remained within the realm of science fiction, but advances in chemistry, engineering, and materials science are finally allowing researchers to construct circuits that break down on their own timetable. This includes systems that rely on conventional complementary oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. "The goal is to develop functional circuits that can operate for a period of time and then vaporize," says Amit Lal, Robert M. Scharf 1977 Professor of Engineering in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and director of the university's SonicMEMs lab.