Photos: LEDs in your contact lenses

The circuits in the lens are just a few nanometers thick, and the light-emitting diodes are one-third of a millimeter across. Working on this tiny scale, the researchers used a microfabrication technique known as self-assembly in which a component's shape dictates how and where it attaches on top of a flexible plastic sheet.

As the team continues to work on the basic technology, it hopes to add wireless communication capabilities and to provide power to the system using both radio-frequency techniques and solar cells placed on the lens.