Is Sequential Deposition the Key to Flexible and Wearable Electronics?

[wolram]

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160407150617.htm

Just wondering if this will be the next step in electronics, ie, wearable devices and printing electronics.

Now, University of Pennsylvania engineers have shown a new approach for making these devices: sequentially depositing their components in the form of liquid nanocrystal "inks."

Their new study, published in Science, opens the door for electrical components to be built into flexible or wearable applications, as the lower-temperature process is compatible with a wide array of materials and can be applied to larger areas.

 

[Grinkle]

Very interesting technology, and suggestive of a different scaling axis - ergonomic scaling as opposed to area scaling. I imagine there are a lot of functions that require 100's or 1000's of transistors (as opposed to orders of magnitude more transistors) that would be very handy to have woven into ones socks or shirt. There is nothing in the article to suggest these transistors can't scale to be small, I am thinking that large area transistors would more easily stand up to being in a dryer with wool socks, though.