Mike Magee attended the iSuppli Flat Information Displays Conference held in Monterey this week. He was particularly interested by a presentation given by Plastic Logic –- a spin-off of Cambridge University's Cavendish Lab. As he says half-jokingly, in the future, you will "print your circuits with an inkjet."
Plastic Logic is exploring printing electronic circuits from soluble plastics and has already got agreements with Epson, Dow Chemical and CDT, with 35 employees based in the Cambridge Science Park.
The advances of plastic compared to silicon is it needs low capital investment, is cheap to build, is environmentally friendly, is extremely thin, it's robust and light and has flexible substrates, according to Stuart Evans, CEO of Plastic Logic.
The technology uses solution processed semiconducting polymers, inkjet printable conductors, and solution processed dielectrics.
In the not so distant future, we'll see inkjet printed transistors with .25 micron channel lengths, Plastic Logic suggests.
Here is a diagram illustrating their technology.
You can find more explanations in the Plastic Logic's technology section.
Mike Magee was also impressed by a presentation from the E Ink Corporation about new display technology which will increase battery lives. This will improve the readability of "e-books and e-magazines like ours on handhelds and notebooks." You can find details in "Portable electronic ink display prototypes shown at forum."
Source: Mike Magee, The Inquirer, December 13, 2002
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