Printing high-performance semiconductors on a wide range of substrates – just imagine the possibilities. Turns out, startup Semprius Inc. , which was spun out from the University of Illinois research labs but is now located in Durham, North Caroline, has taken major steps in making this a reality. As a matter of fact, the company’s progress has been so encouraging that quite some money has been flowing their way as of late. At the end of April, Semprius received $4.1 million in Series A funding from Arch Venture Partners and Intersouth Partners - both firms have quite a bit of experience in funding semiconductor startups. Additionally, just a few days ago the National Science Foundation awarded the company a grant to pursue research in processes and materials for the display industry. Key to Semprius’ success so far is the elegant method that the company is proposing for transferring transistors from a traditional substrate onto other surfaces such as glass or plastic. In short, the transistors are manufactured on a traditional and well understood substrate, leveraging conventional manufacturing techniques, thus eliminating any problems that would be introduced using non-traditional substrates. The innovation stems from the company’s ability to then peel off the finished transistor from the traditional substrate and place it onto another one. A more detailed illustration of the process can be found here. One sample application for this technology would be placing transistors directly onto an LCD back panel, which would lead to significantly faster pixel response times for the display. Other applications include: flexible displays, large area sensors, RF devices, and OLEDs. With all these interesting business opportunities looming on the horizon for the company, it will be interesting to watch whether or not Semprius will be successful at commercializing their technology.