The resulting silicon can be treated with the usual chip-making processes to make transistors that are small, flexible and reasonably fast.

ECONOMIST: Just press print

What is more, according to Dr Hergenrother, all of this is possible using current chip-making equipment and processes.

ECONOMIST: Transistors: A tall story | The

The new version puts the full DNA extraction, amplification and separation processes on a newer chip that meets NEC's original goal of producing output in 25 minutes -- faster than a short cop drama, if you include the commercial breaks.

ENGADGET: NEC shows 2014-era portable DNA analyzer that could outpace your favorite crime drama

The goal is to take the same optics functions that have traditionally been done with esoteric and expensive parts and processes and bring them into a regular chip fabrication facility.

FORBES: Why IBM and Intel Are Chasing the $100B Opportunity in Nanophotonics

In particular, the processes by which the circuit pattern is first projected on to a chip's surface lithographically, and then etched on to it chemically, will need to be altered to take account of the fact that the surface is curved.

ECONOMIST: Semiconductors

Once this is done, a series of chemical processes, some of which require high temperatures, are used to etch microscopic electrical circuits on to the chip's surface.

ECONOMIST: Transistors: A tall story | The