UC Chemist Patents Plastic Film to Make Computer Circuits

A new and cheaper way to make computer circuits by putting them on a plastic film instead of a silicon chip could lead to “unfathomed” changes in technology, a UC Berkeley chemist contends.

Bruce Novak, an assistant professor of chemistry, has patented a type of plastic film that he believes may vastly change the way many types of microchips are made.

In a telephone interview, Novak said the process may lead to cheap television screens as thin as a few sheets of paper, new ways to make photocopies and photographs and the ability to put thin layers of electronic circuits on most materials.

His paper on the subject describes the potential of the film as “unfathomable.”

“I’m just a plain old chemist, not an applications guy. But this stuff seems awfully exciting to me,” Novak said.

During experiments with the material, Novak and three of his students were amazed to discover that it adopted an atomic structure similar to semiconductors. They later found that the film itself could form a new circuit and did not need underlying layers of silicon.