Under the agreement, Bell Labs and Opticom will utilize each other's expertise, resources and technical assistance to develop plastic memory circuitry, using organic integrated circuits, that could be used in a future generation of optical memory devices.
Organic transistors are transistors made out of organic polymers that conduct electricity.
Using such plastic transistors, Bell Labs scientists have been able to print functioning circuits on flexible sheets of plastics using inexpensive screen printing techniques. Opticom has already developed plastic processing techniques, patterning techniques and certain memory architectures. Terms of the agreement were not announced. Opticom ASA, based in Oslo, Norway, was established in 1995 as a research and development company to develop all-organic optical storage and processing systems. This information is based on a press release written by Dick Muldoon of Bell Labs Media Relations.