Plastic microchips
Plastic microchips
Scientists in the United Kingdom report that they have developed ultra-cheap plastic microchips that can be printed almost as easily as a colour magazine. This opens up the possibility of bringing "intelligence" to everyday objects. It means, for example, that the new chips can be printed on clothes,paper, food containers and so on, making it possible for the user to be able to receive information about the item used.
The developers have set up a company, Plastic Logic, to continue the initiative. The company was set up by Professor Richard Friend, who is the Cavendish professor of Physics at the UK's Cambridge University, and his colleague Dr Henning Sirringhaus. The company has developed and patented the technology.
The chips are to be made by spraying tiny globules of conducting plastics on to any material. The aim of the development, Professor Friend says, is to be able to transfer low-level intelligence to everyday products. Scientists have seen plastic chips as a much desired technology and have awaited their development for some time.
It has been said that such chips will in fact "revolutionise"semiconductors. It is, however, accepted that they will not be as powerful as silicon versions, but the obvious advantages are apparent. They will be flexible, very thin, we are told, and many thousand times cheaper to manufacture than current chips.
It is anticpated by the developers that the technology will be available in a usable state in some five years' time. This announcement at Cambridge University will of course encourage other research institutions to compete with what is now a patented technology.
