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Silicon Circuits That Bend and Stretch
Matty the Monkey brings us a story from the BBC about silicon chips which can bend, flex, and even stretch. Researchers have developed a method to create circuits just 1.5 microns thick, which can then be bonded to a type of rubber to allow a great degree of flexibility. Scientists and companies see uses for these circuits in products ranging from "electronic paper" to form-fitting sensor devices to advanced brain implants. From BBC News:
"To create the foldable chips, these circuit layers are deposited on a polymer substrate which is bonded in turn to a temporary silicon base. Following the deposition of the circuits, the silicon base is discarded to reveal delicate slivers of circuitry held in plastic. These are then bonded to a piece of pre-strained rubber. When the strain is removed, the rubber snaps back into shape, causing the circuits on the surface to wrinkle accordingly."
This coupled with a flexible LCD screen, and I'll finally be able to have the line of t-shirts with animated graphics and slideshows I've been wanting.
The chips are already waterproof, as are the PCBs. The problem is the connections from chip to PCB, and to things off the PCB -- power connectors, memory sockets, etc. Keyboards and such are also a problem, not to mention CD drives or anything else with exposed moving parts.
A waterproof laptop would be very nice, but this isn't all that relevant. Besides, I doubt we're talking about high-performance chips here anyway.