A transparent computer processor has been printed on to a flat plate of glass by researchers at Sharp’s Japanese laboratory. Their success suggests ultra-thin computers and televisions could in the future be built entirely on a single sheet of glass.

The new “sheet computer” uses a relatively new material called continuous grain silicon, which conducts electrons up to 600 times faster than the amorphous silicon used in liquid crystal displays. Sharp says continuous grain silicon could eventually approach the efficiency of the single crystal silicon used inside today’s computer chips.