Article: Plastic may spell the end of the silicon microchip

Financial Times reports: "By using a cheap and simple set of processing operations to build up layers of circuitry on plastic "substrates" – the material on which circuits are formed – rather than silicon wafers used in conventional microchips, the developments promised to slash the cost of making semiconductors. ... That was potentially a step forward of enormous significance: over the past 50 years semiconductors have grown into a huge industry fundamental to just about every form of economic activity."