In a study published in the Dec. 14 issue of the journal Nature,
researchers at Stanford and UCLA describe mass manufacturing flexible
electronics made with organic, or carbon-based, transistors that could
enable technologies such as low-cost sensors on product packaging and
"electronic paper" displays as thin and floppy as a placemat. In the experiments
reported in the paper, the researchers were able to make simple grid patterns
with crystals in areas as small as 8 hundred-millionths of a square inch (49
square microns). Although not nearly as packed as modern silicon processors or
memory chips, with up to 13 million crystals per square inch, the research team
believes that the patterns could still yield functioning circuits and displays.
The researchers also showed that the transistor arrays printed on plastic
continue to work well even after significant bending, a key finding for anything
that will be used in flexible electronics.