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If you thought that the development of special bonding inks used in laser printers or the Xerox Phaser solid ink sticks were the pinnacle of ink up until now you are in for a big surprise. Last fall a new low temperature silver Xerox ink was developed that will allow manufacturers to literally print circuits on an incredibly wide variety of materials, including fabrics or plastic. While traditional ink printers have had a wide assortment of uses, from printing jerseys to making 3 dimensional models in inkjet printers, the new silver ink is a revolutionary discovery that has the potential to change electronics as we know them today.

Perhaps one of the greatest advantages of the new Xerox ink is that is may help drastically reduce the prices and availability of electronics on the market. Up until now providing low cost electronic devices to the general public has been prevented by the high cost of manufacturing silicon circuits, but now with this new ink printing a circuit costs a fraction of the price that manufacturing a silicon chip would.

An integrated circuit is composed of three different parts: a conductor, a semiconductor and a dielectric element. By successfully developing the new silver ink Xerox now has a way to produce all three of the necessary components for printing plastic circuits. This means that, thanks to the new Xerox ink, circuits can actually be printed just like any normal continuous feed document from your home printer, sans all of the expensive silicon components and clean rooms necessary to manufacture traditional circuits.

It is too early yet to say exactly how this breakthrough is going to affect modern technology, but initial speculations and efforts by Xerox to attract developers suggest applications such as electronic clothing, pliable computer screens that can be folded up for storage, solar cells, and innovative novelty applications.