An 8-Bit, 40-Instructions-Per-Second Organic Microprocessor on Plastic Foil

TLDR

The processor’s near‑transparency, mechanical flexibility, and low power consumption make it suitable for integration into everyday objects such as calculators, timers, or game controllers. We demonstrate an 8‑bit microprocessor fabricated directly on flexible plastic foil, 40 years after the first silicon microprocessors. The microprocessor uses an ALU‑foil that operates at a 10 V supply and 50 V back‑gate, with small plastic circuits generating instruction sequences to execute user‑defined programs. The processor runs at 40 instructions per second, consumes only 100 µW, and can execute tasks such as 4‑bit multiplication and 6‑bit moving‑average calculations.

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.