Combining the functionality of semiconductors with the processibility of polymers opens new horizons in electronics. Over the past decade, a string of discoveries about the electronic properties of semi-conducting polymers has revealed that these materials make excellent semiconductor devices, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and thin-film transistors (TFTs).
Furthermore, advances in processing have opened up new manufacturing methods previously unheard of in the semiconductor industry. For example, techniques such as ink-jet printing from solution can now be applied to manufacture full-colour LED displays, which have started to appear on the market. New concepts in "printable electronics" and "disposable electronics" are being actively explored. These include, for example, the desktop printing on a wide variety of substrates of TFT radiofrequency tags for smart labelling of consumer products and inventory holdings.
In this talk, I will describe how we have translated our research-driven discoveries in the University of Cambridge to two spin-off companies: Cambridge Display Technology and Plastic Logic, and how these are seeding an international and rapidly-growing industry. There is still much to learn in this vibrant field of semi-conducting polymer science and technology, and there are ample opportunities for enterprise and paradigm shifts.
Richard Friend has been on the Faculty in the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge since 1980, where he is now the Cavendish Professor of Physics. Professor Friend has pioneered the study of organic polymers as semiconductors, and demonstrated their use in a wide range of semiconductor devices, including light-emitting diodes, transistors and photocells.
He has been active in the technology transfer of this research to spin-off companies. In 1994, he co-founded Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) to develop polymer light-emitting displays, where he is currently Chief Scientist. Displays developed by CDT are now being manufactured under licence and used in a number of consumer products. In 2000, he co-founded Plastic Logic Ltd to develop directly-printable polymer transistor circuits, where he is currently both Director and Chief Scientist. Professor Friend has published more than 600 papers in the field of organic semiconductors, and is a named inventor on more than 20 patents and patent applications.
Professor Friend has been honoured with Charles Vernon Boys Prize of the Institute of Physics (1988), Royal Society of Chemistry Interdisciplinary Award (1991), Fellow of the Royal Society of London (1993), the Mott Lecture, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics Division of the Institute of Physics (1994), Hewlett-Packard Prize of the European Physical Society (1996), Rumford Medal of the Royal Society of London (1998), Honorary Doctorate, University of Linkoping, Sweden (2000), Italgas prize (2001), Honorary Doctorate, University of Mons-Hainaut, Belgium (2002), McRobert Prize, Royal Academy of Engineering (2002), Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2002), Faraday Medal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (2003), Gold Medal of the European Materials Research Society (2003), Descartes Prize of the European Commission (2003). To date, his publications have in total been cited more than 17,000 times. Over the period 1990-1999 for which compiled data was available, he was the most cited U.K.-based scientist in the field of the physical sciences.
