Super bendy CPUs could pave the way for some extraordinary thinking-outside-the-box designs — Flex-RV is an open source, flexible and affordable processing unit coming to a pen near you

Traditional microprocessors, built on silicon, have seen significant performance improvements in recent years due to shrinking transistor sizes - however, expense remains a barrier for integrating such chips into disposable or flexible products.

This cost is typically driven by three main factors: the expensive silicon fabrication processes, licensing fees for proprietary instruction sets like x86, and the costs of chip packaging. Additionally, the inherent brittleness of silicon makes it unsuitable for use in flexible or wearable devices.

Pragmatic Semiconductor has addressed these issues with Flex-RV, the world’s first 32-bit microprocessor built on a flexible substrate. Flex-RV is notable not only for its flexible form based on the metal-oxide semiconductor indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO). but also for its embedded machine learning capabilities. Developed in collaboration with Qamcom and Harvard University, it marks a major step in non-silicon microprocessors and can operate while being physically bent.

Transforming industries

“This is an exciting step forward in flexible semiconductor technology," noted Emre Ozer, Senior Director of Processor Development at Pragmatic and the lead researcher. "Enabling an open-standard, non-silicon 32-bit microprocessor will democratise access to computing, unlocking emerging applications while opening the door to sub-dollar compute.”

Ozer highlighted how the cost and form factor have long restricted the use of microprocessors in emerging applications like smart labels, wearables, and healthcare, despite the relatively low computational demands.

Flex-RV, with its 17.5-square-millimeter core and approximately 12,600 logic gates, makes use of two key technologies: the open-source RISC-V instruction set and IGZO TFTs.

RISC-V architecture, being open-source, eliminates the costs associated with proprietary ISAs, while allowing customization for specific application needs. IGZO TFTs, on the other hand, enable microprocessor fabrication on flexible substrates, reducing production costs and the environmental impact compared to traditional silicon fabs. The chips are also more durable, as they do not require the rigid protective packaging that silicon chips do.

Pragmatic says Flex-RV has undergone extensive testing and can function reliably at clock speeds up to 60 kHz and power consumption below 6mW, even when bent to a curvature of 5mm. The technology potentially opens new possibilities for integrating computing power into flexible, disposable, and wearable devices, transforming industries such as healthcare and consumer goods.

Pragmatic Semiconductor’s latest research article has been published in Nature.

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