PragmatIC aims to reinvent mass market electronics manufacturing with FlexLogIC

FlexLogIC is a self-contained, fully automated system delivering high throughput manufacturing of ultra-low cost, thin and flexible integrated circuits (FlexICs). In contrast to the traditional silicon industry, FlexLogIC is said to provide a ‘radically different approach’ to fabricating integrated circuits (ICs), which is claimed to be aligned to mass market volumes and low-cost requirements of embedding electronics in everyday objects. With its modular construction and capital investment, identified by PragmatIC as ‘several orders of magnitude smaller’ than a new silicon IC fab, FlexLogIC opens up the potential for a distributed and highly scalable manufacturing model.

Key features of the FlexLogIC system include: automation of all material handling to ensure optimal throughput and complete process repeatability; intelligent software control of all process flows, in-line monitoring and detailed material recipes to ensure reliable production with minimal operator intervention; and a self-contained clean environment to ensure high production yield even at sub-micron feature sizes.

The FlexLogIC system also delivers bespoke products with accelerated time-to-market, benefiting from its production cycle time of less than one day compared with over a month for a silicon IC. This ensures that new flexible electronic applications can be developed, tested and rolled out in radically shortened timescales and with dramatically reduced risk.

Scott White, PragmatIC CEO, said: ‘We have already delivered FlexICs for assembly process qualification and are now focused on ramping our production to fulfil demand for applications with some of the worlds’ largest consumer brands.’