Cheaper, more energy-efficient digital cameras could result from the plastic microchip technology that is to be used to make ?read-anywhere? electronic displays, its developer claims.
Earlier this year British company Plastic Logic won financial backing to commercially produce its ?plastic electronics?, which, says the firm, involves using ?flexible? semi-conducting polymer materials to make thin film transistors (TFTs) instead of using silicon.
Though it has been reported that such technology could be used on the move to view downloadable newspapers and books, a spokeswoman for the Cambridge-based company said that it could be also be used in place of a camera LCD screen.
?Plastic Logic?s display technology will definitely benefit the photographic industry,? she told AP?s news editor Chris Cheesman. ?Although our primary target market for the first application of our technology is electronic reading devices, the same screens and displays could be used in digital cameras.?
She explained: ?The screen would be thinner and lighter, more robust, less likely to shatter, to scratch or be damaged. You would be able to see the screen clearly, even in bright sunlight, and the device would be more power efficient.?
Plastic Electronics recently secured $100m to open a factory by the end of 2008, in Dresden, Germany.
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