Pragmatic Semiconductor Ltd., a pioneer in flexible semiconductor technology, announced the launch of Pragmatic FlexIC Platform Gen 3, offering a 10x digital power and 3x digital area improvement over the previous generation.
The platform comprises a process design kit (PDK) – compatible with standard electronic design automation (EDA) tools – and standard cell libraries, enabling innovators to swiftly design and manufacture custom FlexICs – the company’s ultra-thin, physically flexible application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) with a low carbon footprint. An active early-access programme is enabling lead customers to design on the platform, driving exciting FlexIC innovation that will transform industries and applications.
An alternative to traditional semiconductor platforms
A more accessible and cost-efficient alternative to traditional semiconductor platforms, FlexIC Platform Gen 3 enables customers to create highly customised, more sustainable designs, leveraging the unique form factor – along with rapid fabrication capabilities and enhanced design efficiency – to bring innovative products to market faster than ever before.
The platform provides manufacturing capabilities via the Pragmatic FlexIC Foundry – the UK’s first 300mm fabrication site (fab), housed at the company’s flagship production facility, Pragmatic Park, Co. Durham, England, with capacity to produce billions of chips per year. The foundry’s innovative and highly efficient production process significantly reduces the carbon footprint of semiconductor fabrication. It also boasts cycle times of just days, taking designs from tape-out to delivery in weeks, for agile product development and faster go-to-market times.
“The third generation of the FlexIC Platform makes it quicker and easier than ever before to design and manufacture FlexICs,” said Catherine Ramsdale, Pragmatic Semiconductor’s Senior Vice President of Technology.
“It gives designers the tools to swiftly create and manufacture mixed-signal ASICs using our advanced metal-oxide thin-film transistor (TFT) technology, and combines a thin, flexible form factor – ideal for space-constrained applications – with lower digital power consumption and area.
Quicker and more accurate designing on thin-film transistor technology
“The enriched PDK makes designing on thin-film transistor technology quicker and more accurate, further accelerating design success. By enabling rapid product development and a pathway to high-volume manufacturing, we’re empowering our customers to extend the boundaries of what’s possible.”
Pragmatic’s FlexIC technology opens a vast range of AI-enabled IoT applications across the consumer, industrial and healthcare markets and beyond, from smart packaging and item-level traceability in fast-moving consumer goods and circular economy initiatives to a wide range of sensor and wearable applications. Sustainably bridging the physical and digital worlds, it enables intelligence where it simply wasn’t possible previously.
“The launch of FlexIC Platform Gen 3 is a key milestone both in enabling our customers’ success and in reinforcing the UK’s position on the global semiconductor stage,” concluded Ramsdale. “Gen 3 technology not only gives innovators significant digital power and area improvements, it further bolsters our commitment to scaling semiconductor manufacturing in the UK, for the benefit of our global customer base.”