Printed semiconductor fab opens

A FACTORY making printed semiconductor optoelectronic circuits opened in Austria.

Nanoident GmbH said the facility will be able to churn out printed electronic devices at much less of the cost of silicon fabrication plants.

The fab has a class 100 cleanroom, and puts nanomaterials on a substrate using what Nanoident describes as advanced printing methods.

While the production of the circuits widely differs from silicon fabs, printed circuits use similar electronic design automation tools. The inks used in the process use conducting and semiconducting conjugated polymers turned into solvents and which become layers for the device.

Layers are printed one at a time, with each layer cured first before subsequent printing. But a lot of devices can be simultaneously printed on one substrate. The substrate types include glass, ceramic, plastic foil and yeah, silicon if you want.

Substrates can become component packaging. µ