The integrated circuits that undergird modern electronics pack billions of transistors into an area smaller than a dime. Undisputed technological marvels though they are, the silicon-based devices—and the conventional methods to make them—aren’t well suited to applications that require large area, ability to flex, or both. Manufacturing plants have to maintain expensive ultraclean environments, and fabrication often involves slow, high-vacuum deposition or high-temperature annealing that limits compatibility with many flexible substrate materials. For large electronic displays, photovoltaic arrays, and devices that are incorporated into clothes, the dearth of cost-effective fabrication methods, not limited real estate, is the main obstacle.
Scientists and engineers envision fabricating electronic devices on large sheets of flexible substrates—plastics, paper, and textiles among others. One scenario is to assemble the devices as the substrate is continuously fed from one large roll to another—much in the way text is printed on newspapers. Manufacturers have already begun to explore...
