The First Plastic Computer Processor

The First Plastic Computer Processor

This processor is made of 4,000 plastic, or organic, transistors.

It measures roughly two centimeters square and is built on top of flexible plastic foil.

So far it can run only one simple program of 16 instructions.

Loading the Program :

Hardcode the commands into a second foil etched with plastic circuits.

These plastic circuits can be connected to the processor.

This allows the processor to calculate a running average of an incoming signal.

The chip runs at a speed of six hertz-on the order of a million times slower than a modern desktop machine-and can only process information in eight-bit chunks at most, compared to 128 bits for modern computer processors.

Making :

A 25-micrometer thick sheet of flexible plastic is used to make this processor.

A layer of gold electrodes are deposited on top, followed by an insulating layer of plastic, another layer of gold electrodes and the plastic semiconductors that make up the processor's 4,000 transistors.

Those transistors were made by spinning the plastic foil to spread a drop of organic liquid into a thin, even layer.

When the foil is heated gently the liquid converts into solid pentacene, a commonly used organic semiconductor.

The different layers were then etched using photolithography to make the final pattern for transistors.


The usefulness of the processor is still a question to be answered and the platic is far from replacing silicon as for now.

Compared to using silicon, this has the advantage of lower price and that it can be flexible.

Lets hope that one day this plastic processor will conquer the world. Though it had miles to go.. What is your take??The processor is made of 4,000 plastic, or organic, transistors.