Engineers and technophiles have long dreamt of plastic-based
displays that are flexible, lightweight, and rugged compared to
their glass-backed counterparts. But plastic screens still
aren’t widely available, partly because they’re so hard to
manufacture reliably in large numbers. Now a company called
Phicot has adapted a technique for printing amorphous silicon
electronics onto plastic that could finally make such displays
practical. The manufacturing technique, already used to make
cheap solar cells, involves depositing chemicals on long sheets
of plastic as they are fed through a series of rollers. Phicot
is a subsidiary of PowerFilm of Ames, IA, which already makes
amorphous silicon solar cells using this roll-to-roll process.
“The basic technology of roll-to-roll can bring the price down
and make plastic an excellent option for the back half of the
display,” says Frank Jeffrey, cofounder and CEO of PowerFilm.
Most modern displays rely on transistors made of amorphous
silicon on glass. The problem with am