Computer memory could soon earn the ultimate commercial validation: the cheap plastic knock-off.
While microchip makers continue to wring more and more from silicon, the most dramatic improvements in the electronics industry could come from an entirely different material: plastic. Labs around the world are working on integrated circuits, displays for handheld devices and even solar cells that rely on electrically conducting polymers-not silicon-for cheap and flexible electronic components. Now two of the world’s leading chip makers are racing to develop new stock for this plastic microelectronic arsenal: polymer memory.