MIT researchers working with engineers at NY Creates reported a fabrication process intended to produce silicon-photonics wafers that are both flexible and transparent at large scale. The paper, published in Optica and summarized by MIT on Sept. 3, 2026, describes 300-millimeter wafers made using standard semiconductor manufacturing techniques. Earlier demonstrations of flexible or transparent chips could only make a few devices at a time, the report said.

In testing, the team bent a single chip thousands of times around cylinders of various diameters, including one about the width of a small screw, with no drop in performance; degradation began only after repeated bending around a toothpick. A separate setup using a bionic eye found only minimal haze and no noticeable image distortion.

The fabrication process bonds a temporary silicon wafer for support, removes the original substrate, and transfers the remaining ultrathin layers to a transparent polyester film. The researchers said they managed stress using processes at or below 500 degrees Celsius. They framed potential uses, such as curved augmented-reality displays and body-conforming monitors, as future directions and planned further work on complexity and waveguide efficiency. Funding included the National Science Foundation and DARPA.