An 8-bit, 40-instructions-per-second organic microprocessor on plastic foil

Kris Myny, Erik Van Veenendaal, Gerwin H. Gelinck, Jan Genoe, Wim Dehaene, Paul Heremans

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

176 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Forty years after the first silicon microprocessors, we demonstrate an 8-bit microprocessor made from plastic electronic technology directly on flexible plastic foil. The operation speed is today limited to 40 instructions per second. The power consumption is as low as 100 μW. The ALU-foil operates at a supply voltage of 10 V and back-gate voltage of 50 V. The microprocessor can execute user-defined programs: we demonstrate the execution of the multiplication of two 4-bit numbers and the calculation of the moving average of a string of incoming 6-bit numbers. To execute such dedicated tasks on the microprocessor, we create small plastic circuits that generate the sequences of appropriate instructions. The near transparency, mechanical flexibility, and low power consumption of the processor are attractive features for integration on everyday objects, where it could be programmed as, amongst other items, a calculator, timer, or game controller.

Original languageEnglish
Article number6069822
Pages (from-to)284-291
Number of pages8
JournalIEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits
Volume47
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2012

Keywords

  • Dual-gate
  • flexible circuits
  • flexible microprocessor
  • flexible processor
  • organic circuits
  • organic microprocessor
  • organic processor
  • organic transistor
  • plastic circuits
  • plastic microprocessor
  • plastic processor

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