Success in print

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, is jointly developing printed electronics technology based on organic semiconductors that can be used in a broad variety of everyday applications.

BASF entered into two projects with Lucent Technologies’ Bell Labs and printed systems GmbH, Chemnitz, Germany, to create this technology, which is cheaper and less complex than traditional silicon-based processes used to manufacture integrated circuits.

The recently completed project resulted in the production of the first fully printed, low cost mass-producible ring oscillator, an integrated circuit made up of transistors that produce defined periodical electrical signals. In more complex circuits such ring oscillators are often used as clock generators.

With this prototype the BASF team was able to confirm that its integrated circuit was fully functional. According to BASF, this represents an industry first and a major advancement on the way to printing low cost, highly flexible integrated circuitry using established offset and gravure-based printing processes.