Orthogonal Inc., in Ithaca, works on ways to make electronics out of organic materials | The Post-Standard By | The Post-Standard The Post-Standard
Follow on Twitter
on March 15, 2010 at 3:05 PM, updated March 15, 2010 at 10:19 PM

By Ashley White / Post-Standard contributing writer

2010-03-02-sdc-orthogonal1.JPGFox Holt, CEO of Orthogonal Inc. in Ithaca, holds a bottle of Ortho 310 photoresist, a nontoxic material used in the manufacturing of organic electronics. It replaces harsh chemicals used in traditional electronics manufacturing.



The electronic guts of such devices would be organic, based on flexible carbon instead of rigid silicon. Up to now, organic electronics have been hard to manufacture because they are damaged by harsh chemicals used in the making of conventional electronics.

Orthogonal Inc., an Ithaca startup, is working on a way to “print” electronic circuits on organic chips using existing technology. That would allow makers of flat-panel displays, solar cells, e-readers and touch screens to use organic materials without having to buy all new manufacturing equipment.

And they would turn out products that are better for the environment, said Fox Holt, CEO of Orthogonal.

Conventional electronics use expensive and toxic metals, including Americium, mercury, silicon, sulfur, cadmium, lead and beryllium oxide.

2010-03-02-sdc-orthogonal2.JPGA beaker of Ortho 310 photoresist at Orthogonal Inc. in Ithaca.

“Basically all electronics like your cell phone and computer, at least the guts of them, are made out of metal,” Holt said. “These metals are scarce resources, tough to recycle and tough to handle.”

Metals account for approximately 75 million metric tons in landfills. They are especially difficult to handle in developing nations, which are ill-equipped to deal with highly toxic materials.

Electronic components based on carbon would be cheaper and easier to dispose of environmentally.

“Non-metals become a lot easier to recycle because once you put them in a landfill, instead of a metal that does not decompose, it will decompose because of its organic nature,” Holt said.

The process of manufacturing electronics also would become greener.

Here’s the traditional way of making a liquid crystal display, using a process called photolithography:

A piece of glass is coated with a light-sensitive toxic chemical called a photoresist, or resist for short. The resist changes its form when light hits it. A mask is added to block light in certain areas. When the mask is removed, properties of the resist are changed where the light has hit, while areas under the mask remain unchanged. A toxic solvent, such as acetone, is used to wash away the areas that were hit by the light. What remains are the areas where the metals have been deposited.

Photolithography has been used to produce conventional electronics for more than 20 years. But the harsh chemicals involved destroy organic materials.

Orthogonal uses a patent-pending process invented by Cornell professors Christopher Ober and George Malliaris that uses nontoxic photoresists and nontoxic solvents that won’t damage organic electronics.

“It’s the exact same process so that manufacturers can use their same equipment but replace the bad chemicals that are harmful to the environment,” Holt said.

Organic solar photovoltaic cells can be made more cheaply than their conventional counterparts. Conventional solar cells have a high cost per watt-hour because they are manufactured with silicon, a substance that is very expensive to process and in short supply.

Orthogonal also has developed prototypes of organic light-emitting diodes, sensors and organic transistors. It has three full-time and two part-time employees.

Another advantage of organic electronics is energy efficiency. A display made out of organic LEDs would be four times as efficient as a traditional LCD display, Holt said.