Few industry can boast the huge leap in engineering that thecomputerindustry has made in the last 50 years . Since the innovation of thetransistorin the 1940s , computers have reduce from behemoth machines that took up multiple room to portable gimmick the sizing of paperback books that can perform hundreds of millions of operations per secondment . While computer manufacturing has made great pace in the last half - century , the manufacturing process is still set to a fistful of companies .
Manufacturing computers is a costly and time - consuming undertaking . Amicroprocessorfabrication plant be $ 2 billion and takes two full weeks to produce one atomic number 14 - based microprocessor . Few computer enthusiasts have the resources to make their own computer Saratoga chip . However , researchers are develop means to permit anyone to become their own microprocessor fabricator . Users will plainly download microchip designs from the cyberspace and print out a working ink - based , plastic mainframe on adesktop fabrication motorcar , similar to anink reverse lightning printer .
The next phase of computing will make the user into the creators and builders of their own computer component . In this variant ofHow Stuff Will Work , you will read how desktop fabricators will countenance you to print out computer components . This article also key out a few of the undertaking that have already win in using ink spurt printers to produce transistors , actuatorsandlinear - drive motor .
Desktop Fabrication
Few indicate that the next coevals of computers will be nearly inconspicuous , meaning that they will blend in with unremarkable object . Flexible ink - like circuitry will be printed onto plastic or sprayed onto various other substrates , such asclothes . One of the scientist leading this printable computer revolution isJoseph JacobsonofMIT Media Lab ’s Nano Media Group . Jacobson has said that his group will be able-bodied to produce a wide-eyed impress microprocessor in late 2001 or former 2002 . He also foreknow being capable to eventually grow a printed silicon chip that could rival anIntelPentium central processor .
Jacobson ’s group has already win in using an ordinaryHitachiink jet printing machine to make several components for a printable computer . Using ananoparticle - base inkmade from suspend nano - size of it semiconductor particle in a liquid , researchers spray the components onto a charge card substrate . Here ’s a look at some of the impress portion the MIT group has made with this process :
The Media Lab also make transistors using a different summons . For that , polymer seal are used with the computer architecture of the transistors in a overconfident relief . The stamp is then dipped in the nanoparticle ink and transplant to a substratum by handwriting . The next measure will be to apply an ink jet printer or some other kind of background fabricator to produce printable transistors .
MIT is n’t the only group developing means to print calculator circuitry . Plastic Logic , a company that bound out of work get atCambridge Universityin England , plan to commercialize the first plastic chip . The troupe has developed and patented a method of printing plastic onto polymer substrates , make cheap and conciliatory charge plate transistors . The physical process is similar to the ink jet process used by MIT , but Plastic Logic add carbon - based chemicals to alter the properties of the plastic . By printing the chips onto rolls of motion-picture show , they can be applied to a variety of surfaces .
At Lucent Technologies ' research fellowship , Bell Labs Innovations , researchers develop the cosmos ’s first printed electronic transistor in 1997 . Using shaping sheets similar to overhead projector transparencies , aliquid plastic semiconductoris applied over a stainless - steel mesh with a squeegee to form the multiple layers of the transistor . After the solvent of the mixture evaporates , the charge plate remains . The unconscious process is very similar tohow silk screening works . Lucent has team up withE Ink , an MIT offspring , to create printable displays . SeeHow Electronic Ink Will Workfor more selective information .
presently , scientists will be able to create just about every part of a computing equipment ’s hardware using a background storyteller . Plastic will take the place of atomic number 14 for many determination , but do n’t await to drop a line off silicon as a worthful computer component for at least a decade or two . In the next discussion section , we ’ll see how charge plate stacks up against silicon and why we can expect silicon to bewilder around for many more old age .
Plastic Vs. Silicon
Plastic may revolutionize the semiconductor machine industry , but it wo n’t be an overnight rotation . The sophistication of printable computing machine is still very simple . Currently , pliant prevarication twist can only develop transistors at the 25 micrometer caliper scale ( a micron is one - millionth of a meter ) ; that ’s far from the .2 micrometer resolution that is demand to produce a do work microprocessor . Intel is capable to push about 10 million transistors only a few hundred nanometers big onto one silicon chip . Ananometeris one - billionth of a meter .
Most researchers will tell you that printable data processor components are not designed to put back silicon . Initially , we will see these printable devices used to give intelligence to everyday objects . They will be integrated into clothes , nutrient label and toys . One of the most exciting applications for printable electronics is create a wallpaper that doubles as a television screen or information processing system varan . MIT also plans to build a digital camera into a a business concern card .
Plastic does offer some benefit over silicon . Silicon is rigid , while plastic chips are flexible , allow it to be placed on a potpourri of substrates . The trouble is that , despite great Bob Hope to create a plastic Pentium , print inorganic electronic transistor are still about 100 times boring than conventional transistors bump on silicon poker chip .
essentially , printable computing machine represent the meeting of conventional impression technologies with computer chip fabrication to produce meretricious , more flexible components . While many obstacle remain in its ontogeny , early intersection are quick to enter the market , such asdisposable cell phonesand computerized clothing . The next decade may get us the ability to publish out our own electronic gadget and sophisticated computing gadget .
