Start the Presses: Printable Circuits Nearly Ready

akookieone writes: "MIT Tech Review has an article on Rolltronics (first appearing in /. a year ago). Seems they can now print circuits 10 micrometers across, and are thinking they could 'very shortly' move from R&D to production."

Comments

Practical / Profit making application

[caferace]

Picture this, if you will. You are looking for, or even better have a design you can use immediately.

You pull up a website, specify an existing (or upload your .cad file) and you get your IC board in a day or two in the mail. Sign me up...

The next step

[mgv]

This sort of technology could have a myriad of uses.

For example:

I can just see how Steve Jobs (who loves form with function) could use this type of technology to get away from the beige box a step further. You could print out the computer on the back of the screen, or into the monitor stand. Then again, he has almost done that with the new iMac's anyway.

PDA's could get alot smaller.

Also, it (presumably) gets away from alot of issues with size of circuits. Traditional intergrated circuits benefit from small size as they have not only use lower voltages and operate faster, but also have a lower likely hood of defects. Each silicon wafer may have a few pinpoint defects, but each one takes out the whole chip. Smaller chips mean a smaller percentage loss rate.

Presumably this technology is resistant to such faults (or it would be pretty useless at the sizes of sheets of newspaper). This could mean very large integrated circuits without the need for circuit boards as such. In other words, shrinking a whole motherboard down to a large integrated circuit.

While the current technology is still at a 10 micron stage, it could still have benefit if applied to the idea of printing a whole computer rather than just printing a CPU and soldering it in.

Also, I would presume that this is first generation technology, and should reduce below 10 microns fairly easily.

Just a thought or two.

Michael