FYI: Next-gen chips: Silicon or plastic?

From: Larry Blasch (opwmaster@netscape.net)
Date: Thu Nov 30 2000 - 00:37:56 EET


        I thought that the list might see the implications here.

Larry Blasch
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Next-gen chips: Silicon or plastic?
        
Cambridge University researchers are developing plastic processors that can
be used on disposable items such as price tags or tickets.

        
        
By Will Knight, ZDNet (UK) <http://www.zdnet.co.uk>
November 28, 2000 6:10 AM PT

Researchers at Cambridge University are developing cheap microchip
technology using plastic that some pundits believe could lead to a
revolution within the processor industry.

Plastic Logic, the company behind the project, hopes to demonstrate
commercial prototypes next summer.

It says it has developed and patented a method of printing plastic to a
polymer substrate, making cheap and flexible plastic transistors.

While the company concedes that plastic semiconductors are unlikely to
replace silicon chips anytime soon, it argues the technology could lead to a
new generation of low-cost smart appliances.

Areas likely to benefit from plastic processors include flat-panel computer
displays and smart appliances. Cheap plastic transistors would allow large
TFT (thin-film transistor) flat-panel displays, which use a transistor per
each pixel, to be produced cheaply. Plastic microchips could also allow
everyday disposable items, such as price tags or tickets, to carry out basic
computing tasks.

Plastic Logic is funded by Cambridge, UK venture capital firm Amadeus
Capital Partners Ltd. and is headed up by Hermann Hauser, entrepreneur and
co-founder of Acorn Computers. "They would not replace silicon," Hauser told
ZDNet. "But they could be so cheap that they could be put on everything."

Chips everywhere
Jim Tully, chief analyst at Gartner's Semiconductor Group, a research
company, says that this could be a new area for the semiconductor industry
to explore. "There's an emerging type of semiconductor technology that is
not based on super high speed," he said. "There are a lot of applications
that could benefit [from this technology]."

Current computer semiconductors are based on silicon, which must go through
a complicated manufacturing process. Microprocessors based on plastic would
be simpler and cheaper to produce and would expand the reach of the
microprocessor industry. While a plant for manufacturing silicon
microprocessors costs billions of pounds to build, Hauser estimates that a
plastic microchip plant would be a hundred times cheaper to set up.

The technology is based on work from professors Richard Friend and Henning
Siringhaus at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University. Amadeus
Capital Partners has invested 1.75 million pounds in the venture. Other
investors include CRIL (Cambridge Research and Innovation) and U.S. chemical
company Dow Ventures.
                

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