In another ill-fated effort, Opticom (Oslo, Norway) was set up in 1994 to develop multilayer, nonvolatile polymeric memory systems. In 1999, Opticom signed a joint agreement with Intel to commercialize the polymer memory technology. But problems resulting from the introduction of polymeric materials into silicon fab environments resulted in Intel's canceling its collaboration in 2005.

Thin Film Electronics AB, formerly the Swedish research wing of Opticom, was separated from its now-defunct parent in 2006 and has since reapplied itself to the production of low-cost, all-polymer nonvolatile rewritable memories. The company is also pursuing RFID tags, smart labels and other applications, having abandoned the large-scale, silicon-based general-purpose memory it had previously investigated under research contracts with Intel.

It's highly unlikely that thin-film transistors will replace today's semiconductor memories, said Rolf Aberg, an executive board member of Thin Film Electronics. "It will be a complementary technology to semiconductors," he told EE Times. "We think it will open up new applications."

For example, Belgium's Cartamundi Group plans to use Thin Film Electronics' technology to deposit memory circuits on a new class of standalone game cards that would let users play games over the Internet.

Thin Film is putting the manufacturing infrastructure in place to bring its technology to market. Last week, Agfa (Mortsel, Belgium) and Thin Film announced that they intend to enhance the materials for volume production of printed memory devices.

Thin Film last week also signed a deal with InkTec Co. Ltd. (Kyungki-do, South Korea). The joint collaboration is focused on optimizing InkTec's silver inks for Thin Film's memory cell electrodes.

STMicroelectronics Inc. last week claimed to have developed the first entries in a line of standalone thin-film circuits. Using a combination of nano- imprint lithography and inkjet printers, the company has devised a 4-bit arithmetic logic unit, a full adder and a one-time-programmable device, said Luigi Occhipinti, corporate R&D program manager for ST (Geneva).

Occhipinti acknowledged that there are a number of hurdles to clear before the technology enters production. Be- sides lackluster transistor performance, he cited "a lack of stability in n-type organic materials" in a conference presentation last week.

As a result, the first applications in thin-film circuits may not be standalone devices, but offerings in the booming area of RFID. One startup, Kovio Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.), came out of stealth mode at the conference with a silicon-based thin-film transistor technology--a low-cost RFID tag (see story, page 16).

Today's RFID tags run 15 cents per unit. "You can't get below 10 cents" with conventional technology, said Kovio CEO Amir Mashkoori. Kovio's technology will lower the cost of RFID tags to 5 cents when it moves into production in 2008, he said. The ultimate goal is to bring the tags down to a penny per unit.

PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG claimed at last week's event that it had beaten rival Kovio to the punch. PolyIC is developing thin-film devices manufactured in an industrial roll-to-roll printing process. The company touts two organic-based chips: PolyID, a 13.56-MHz device equipped with a 4-bit memory, and PolyLogo, geared for "smart objects."

The first products are expected to sample by year's end, said Wolfgang Clemens, head of applications at PolyIC. He would not specify pricing for the company's RFID tags but said the goal is to drive costs to the "few-cent range."

Another emerging market for the technology is displays. Startup Orfid Corp. claims to have begun shipping its first devices for the display market.

Orfid has developed an organic electronic technology called the vertical organic field-effect transistor. Because of its architecture and the use of conductive polymers in its fabrication, the VOFET offers performance characteristics similar to conventional, wafer-based silicon transistors but can be produced at significantly lower cost, the company said.

Another novel approach is being developed by a little-known startup called 3T Technologies Ltd. (Cambridge, U.K.). 3T is working on a generic device platform and process for applying transparent conductive oxide materials to enable what it calls "transparent thin-film technology" or "invisible circuitry."

"Based initially on zinc oxide as the active transparent semiconductor, the device construction and manufacturing approach provide the basic building block for transparent logic circuitry and display pixel switching to support a wide range of display media," according to the company.