Thin Film designs addressable plastic memory

LONDON – Thin Film Electronics ASA has announced it has designed a 128-bit thin film addressable memory in a printable plastic material in collaboration with the Palo Alto Research Center of Xerox (PARC).

Thin Film's current product is a contact-based 20-bit memory and memory controller for interactive toys and games. The move to an addressable format is a step towards creating compact higher-density printed memories and integration with other printed elements, such as sensors, power sources, and antennas, according to Davor Sutija, Thin Film CEO.

The design combines Thin Film's memory technology with transistor technology developed by PARC, and includes CMOS circuitry to reduce the number of contact pads necessary to control the memory. "We have a unique position in printed electronics with our low-power rewritable memory that meets the standards and cost-targets of this new industry," said Sutija.

Addressable plastic memory products will allow integration within fully printed systems, such as ID tags, sensor tags, and disposable price labels. "There are significant horizontal markets, markets that meet the needs of a wide variety of industries, waiting for this technology to be ready," said Sutija. A wave of applications based on mobile communication with embedded electronic tags would seen arrive, Sutija added.

Thin Film and PARC are now developing prototypes of the addressable memory. These prototypes will be ready later this year. Transfer to production is expected in 2012.


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