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range of AFM solutions  Indium Shortage Could Advance Carbon
Nanotube Technologies  Published on November 4, 2010 at 4:38 PM
By Andy Choi  The big race in the consumer electronics industry
is to find more indium, or maybe even an adequate replacement.
The reason being, it is this Indium which is used to create
indium tin oxide or ITO. ITO is used to form transparent
electrodes in liquid crystal displays and touchscreens. It makes
touchscreens transparent and conduct electricity. Speculations
about the shortage of indium tin oxide are rife, according to
industry sources, it may have only have a 10 year supply
remaining.  Figures from the US Geological Survey put the amount
of indium reserves in the world, at about 16,000 tonnes. The
current rate of ITO consumption suggests, those reserves will be
exhausted by 2020. Indium ranks 61st in abundance in the Earth's
crust at approximately 0.25 ppm, which means it is more than
three times as abundant as si