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Ink Breakthrough Heralds Bendy PC Screens
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers claim to have developed a type of soluble semiconductor ink which could help to make bendable computer screens a reality. Developed at Polyera and BASF Future Business, the ink carries an N-Type negative charge. Previously, semiconductor inks have only been able to carry a positive charge. The new ink can be printed onto any flexible material, including plastic and paper, using only a modified ink-jet printer."
As if I didn't already spend enough money on those damn cartridges.
Alchemist: Be Thou For the People
Why, exactly, do we need bendy computer screens?
"Which could help make bendable computer screens a reality" -- Is it just me, or, aren't bendable screens already a reality?
Am I missing something? Even TFA doesn't say how this is a major step forward for bendable computer screens.
Yes, I am obsessed with ellipses.
The article is very light, but let it be known that N-type organic semiconductors have conductivities that are orders of magnitude lower than their P-type counterparts. They are usually much less stable too. If they managed to get something that doesn't need inert athmosphere, encapsulation and can transport a fraction of charges the p-type conjugated materials do, it would be a breakthrough. But I'm really not holding my breath. As someone working in the field, it sounds like vaporware to me.
Res publica non dominetur
It's possible this "could" lead to bendable screens, but the technology isn't complete enough to be used in that way.
Saying this tech could lead to bendable screens is a lot like saying that nanotubes "could lead to" a space elevator.
We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex—but Congress can. – Cullen Hightower
the ink carries an N-Type negative charge. Previously, semiconductor inks have only been able to carry a positive charge.
Do you have any idea what this means?! The possibilities are mind-boggling! You'll be able to put the batteries in backwards!
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
I'll be able to roll up my monitor and stick it in my bunghole!
My notebook computer is that much closer to devolving into a pen-and-paper notebook. I mean, you can already write on tablets. Make them a bit thinner, and more bendy, and what's the difference?
It seems to me that instead of flexible computer screens (which already exist), this could be more interesting to the hobbyist market where you could sell an inkjet printer that had conductive ink cartridges to print out circuit boards for people to play with.
Sure, there are already low cost fab options out there, and people can always use breadboards, but this seems like it would let you do small one-off projects that aren't obviously built on a breadboard.
Just print out the board (with included markings for all of the components), attach the components somehow (solder won't burn through paper, but I don't know about the ink--is it heat resistant?) and watch your project light up. It might even be easier: Print the paper out, paste it on a piece of dense foam, and poke your components through the paper, maybe with a tiny dab of electrical paste/glue on each one.
I could see kits being sold to kids in the vein of those old Radio Shack kits that had springs to attach each wire, only this would let you build something better than a primitive two bit adder. I'm thinking about "make your own laser pointer", build a programmable remote control, build your own robot control board (with attachment points for the leads to the servo motors).
The downside is that ink-jet cartridges are not in any way standardized, and the companies are downright hostile to third parties that try to create compatible cartridges. Convincing HP or Lexmark to make expensive (well, ok, they already like expensive) low volume cartridges is a lost cause as well.
I read the internet for the articles.
and I can still see fine to ty
Because it takes a negative charge, the screen is powered by evil and therefore is able to writhe in evil intent!
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Uhh... It's called a Laser printer dude.
Toner is just carbon black with fusable binders in it. It's been possible to print and copy circuit boards for decades.
You gotta move beyond the inkjet technology and spread your wings and fly.
3-5 years away? Am I right?
If only I lived 3-5 years from now...
Game... blouses.
Let's go a little deeper - what we really need is bendy circuit boards so our electronics can wobble. Just imagine Gummy brand cell phones: they wriggle away from you as you talk.
It can't be more than what HP charges.
It's so that girls can change the color of their fingernails just by touching them, just like in Total Recall.
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=Fingernail+color+%22Total+Recall%22&btnG=Search&meta=
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
In the movie Red Planet, they used a portable "X-ray"-like machine to see broken bones, IIRC.
They unrolled it and held it over the person directly, and a "X-ray"-like image was displayed immediately.
This was a great "wow" factor. Not even Star Trek comes close.
I like my PC screens the way I like my women: bendy.
Currently theta testing the prototype "Event Horizon" server-scaled desktop box with a 50 Gigameg of Ram.
from the 1001-positions-for-computing dept.
Really..... Only 9 positions?
Why when we were young all we had to write on was unobtanium! Needless to say, not a lot ever got written down...and we were grateful!!
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
Paint the object you want to hide and point the image source (camera) at whatever is behind the object.
take one step to the left
:x
This new form of N-type ink, made by dissolving a specific molecule in a certain solvent...
Specific reporting like that is why I keep frequenting certain websites.
does the ink breakthrough Heralds bendy PC screens? :)
We're sorry, but your display's ink cartridge has expired! Please replace with Genuine (TM) HP (TM) ink for best results.
Then how are you reading this message you say? By violating the DMCA! Please unlock your door and put on the teakettle, the stormtroopers will arrive shortly.
why do they like negative charges better than positive ones (apparently available from xerox since 2004 but still no bendy screens...)?
I vote for the positive charge because it sounds more positive!
my dad is a trade printer. I remember having an itek sitting in the living room and presses in the garage as a kid. hes not the hippest of the boomers but he has kept up on printer technology because it stole a lot of his business.
I don't know exact models he has now and its not that imnportent. Other posters have commented about there needs for only B&W or specific photo prints. My dad has a (I think cannon) his volume office copier for his in house B&W work ( he will never ever submit to instant printers for a job that is to be delivered to a customer ). He also has an inkjet for doing photo work on, and as the oldest male in our line he take a literal ton of photos stores them digitally and will gladly produce sets for anyone that wants them. I do not know what that printer is but I want to say its a smaller HP and knowing him he wouldn't splurge if time was not important, but the thing does very very nice prints and he gets some UV resistant ink in bulk somewhere online so the they actually last like a real photo.
All that said, my hp printer here at my feet has been empty for months because I just can't justify 50 bucks for a black cartridge. If I replaced the thing and used it as I really wanted to it would cost me more then my car insurance!
Seriously, I see articles about 'bendable displays' about once per week for the past couple years, as if people were desperate to get their hands on this technology. For what purpose really? We're never going to have moving pictures on newspapers unless you want to pay $100 or more for a paper, and that's never going to happen. What sort of mass hysteria is going on here were companies think we're all desperate for them to invent bendable displays? Does anyone really want to use one? Does anyone really have any practical use for this technology sinkhole?
The printing of circuitry would make fabrication simpler and more accessible and people may be able to print their own (super sized of course) chip designs. Besides, they already came out with a flexible screen at CES...
"ITS OVER NINE THOUSAND!!!11" (Sorry, couldn't resist putting such an appropriate DBZ quote)
I am an ACCA student. Got a query on Accountancy/Finance? Maybe I can help!
I'd offer that your average home enthusiast is more likely to own an ink-jet printer than a laser printer.
I read the internet for the articles.
Imagine a screen like a crazy carpet. (Kids snow sled made from 1/16" polyethylene, 2' x 5') Stand it on edge on a desk in an circular arc.
Imagine a screen for trade shows that can be set up like a projection screen -- and you never have to worry about casting a shadow on the screen or blinding yourself glancing at the projector.
The lower res version becomes a large screen TV without the $200 wall hanging hardware, and disappears into a valance at the ceiling.
Imagine high res screens with very low bandwidth that allow you to subscribe to the poster of the week club. (s/poster/artwork/)
Imagine the possibility of having animated logos on flags.
Imagine a laptop computer the size of whatever keyboard your fingers are in love with. The screen rolls up in to the upper edge of the keyboard, with the top inch of the screen showing above the keyboard when it's furled, so you can use it for small screen applications without unfurling.
Imagine using them as window coverings.
If you have a window that looks onto a factory roof or an air shaft, you can put a 'scenedow' that carries a live feed from a mountain meadow, a rocky beach.
If they work passively (they don't emit light, but just change reflectivity) then they can be used to change the albedo of your windows. Silver in summer to reflect the heat, black in winter to absorb it.
If they are really flexible, (E.g. like cloth) there are interesting art possibilities having animated imagery or abstract art on draped screens. Flags with animated images. Or clothing that truly makes a statement. (Imagine running X11 on your shirt. Now imagine Xroaches...
Third Career: Tree Farmer Second Career: Computer Geek First Career: Teacher, Outdoor Instructor, Photographer.
I was told not to use caps because "it's like YELLING" Well, I WAS.
Where Have You Been.
We've Had A Flexable Screen That Can Be Rolled UP, FOR YEARS
Be that as it may... it's a greater likelyhood that the home enthusiast has no PCB layout program to create the board either. A used Laser printer with many home hobbiest years of life left on it costs no more than a cheep inkjet printer. Much like the folks who complain that they don't have access to a magical fabrication machine (ala Star Trek Mater replicator), they also would have no way of programming it to produce anything original. Since making a copy of an existing item would probably be a violation of someones patent or copyright.
By the way, you can take your inkjetted PCB layout up to any Kinko's and get a conductive copy made for pennies.
Making the circuit board bendy is no problem, they've got plenty of substrates for that which do it with varying degrees of flexibility, thickness, and cost.
The hard part is that you need to follow new design rules for the things you put on the board: copper traces and components which have not been designed with flexibility in mind. The non-flexible components limit the amount you can bend the board to an extent much less than the substrate itself can flex, otherwise you crack the solder joint or the component. It is worth noting that it is very possible to get around a lot of these issue, using embedded components and extremely small components, but as usual it's all basically a matter of how much you are willing to spend and what tradeoffs you can make.
Okey, back up... 1-Are we both talking about the same thing? (I was referring to an oft-repeated quote from Dragon-Ball-Z) 2-If yes, then there is a Hebrew version? Cool! Go multi-culturalism! 3-This is the first time I ever heard that The "9000" figure was disputed, thanks for enlightening me. 4-we are so off-topic, the mods are gonna kill us!
I am an ACCA student. Got a query on Accountancy/Finance? Maybe I can help!