The first plastic processor
A group of researchers from the Belgian Imec Center at the ISSCC conference on February 20, 2011 presented the world's first plastic (or organic) microprocessor, which is able to perform about six instructions per second.
The eight-bit chip of 4000 transistors resembles silicon chips from the 1970s, but the difference is that it is made on a plastic substrate (polyethylene naphthalate), onto which a gold layer, an organic dielectric, a second gold layer and an organic pentacene semiconductor are applied. It turns out the film thickness of 25 microns, which can be glued to any surface.
Perhaps it will be used in cheap flexible displays and in sensors that will be embedded in clothing, building materials, food, medicines.
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Organic microprocessors have long been on the agenda of researchers, but they could not overcome the main problem - the unpredictable behavior of such transistors, caused by the lack of a solid single-crystal structure. Belgian scientists solved this problem by introducing an additional gate to each transistor to control its characteristics.
The performance of the chip was checked on a program of 16 lines.
According to the developers, such processors can be about ten times cheaper than silicon counterparts, unless of course to establish large-scale commercial production. True, organic processors can never accommodate hundreds of millions of transistors, like silicon chips.
via IEEE Spectrum
The eight-bit chip of 4000 transistors resembles silicon chips from the 1970s, but the difference is that it is made on a plastic substrate (polyethylene naphthalate), onto which a gold layer, an organic dielectric, a second gold layer and an organic pentacene semiconductor are applied. It turns out the film thickness of 25 microns, which can be glued to any surface.
Perhaps it will be used in cheap flexible displays and in sensors that will be embedded in clothing, building materials, food, medicines.
')
Organic microprocessors have long been on the agenda of researchers, but they could not overcome the main problem - the unpredictable behavior of such transistors, caused by the lack of a solid single-crystal structure. Belgian scientists solved this problem by introducing an additional gate to each transistor to control its characteristics.
The performance of the chip was checked on a program of 16 lines.
According to the developers, such processors can be about ten times cheaper than silicon counterparts, unless of course to establish large-scale commercial production. True, organic processors can never accommodate hundreds of millions of transistors, like silicon chips.
via IEEE Spectrum
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/114522/
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