As amorphous silicon electronics reach their physical limits, researchers at Northwestern University have figured out a way to make amorphous oxides cheaply and reliably. Amorphous oxides are faster than amorphous silicon and also easier to use in devices such as roll-up displays. The researchers found that adding a chemical such as urea to the thin-film metal-oxide solution could result in thin films capable of electron mobilities 10 times that of amorphous silicon.