Pragmatic upgrades FlexIC platform to version 3.0
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Pragmatic Semiconductor Ltd. has announced it has FlexIC platform Generation 3 claiming it offers a 10x improvement in power and a 3x improvement in area compared with the previous generation.
FlexICs use thin-film transistor (TFT) technology in combination with conventional semiconductor processing to make relatively simple mixed-signal ICs that can be added to flexible substrates. They can be used in conjunction with devices such as displays and sensors to create smart devices based on state machines or simple control logic.
Pragmatic said in May 2024 in a statement of its full accounts for 2023 that the next generation physical design kit (PDK) known as Helvellyn 3.0 would be released in 2024. Many of the parameters in version 3.0 appear to be the same as in the previous generation.
According to the company’s Gen3 briefing document FlexICs still only support one type of field-effect transistor, an n-type FET. This comes with minimum channel dimensions of 600nm by 1-micron. The maximum channel dimensions are 1.2-micron by 20-micron .
There are four routing layers – as in the previous generation – with a four-micron routing pitch and a one-micron line width spacing and a dedicated 200 kΩ/square resistor layer, as in the previous generation.
One parameter that has changed is for the metal-insulator-metal capacitors. For these the capacitance has been increased from 2.7fF/μm2 in the previous generation to 4.5 fF/μm2 in Gen3. The total thickness of FlexICs has increased from approximately 30-micron to about 37-micron but the minimum bend radius has remained the same at 5mm.
The company also claims to provide an enriched process design kit compatible with standard EDA tools as well as new standard cell libraries to accelerate design.
Designs can be manufactured for customers at the Pragmatic FlexIC Foundry in County Durham, England, with capacity to produce billions of chips per year. The limited design complexity means product cycle times are measured in days and tape-out to delivery can be achieved in weeks, Pragmatic claims.
“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, in a statement.
Ramsdale said the upgraded PDK makes design quicker and more accurate.
“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,” concluded Ramsdale.
Despite a suitability for simpler mixed-signal circuits it is notable that in the previous generation of FlexIC the company was able to implement an Arm Cortex-M processor with nested vector interrupt controller. This was implemented in Pragmatic’s 0.8-micron metal oxide TFT technology using 39,000 NAND2 gate equivalents in an area of 59 square millimetres.
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