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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Flex-RV is a 32-bit RISC-V microprocessor built from indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) thin-film transistors on flexible polyimide rather than conventional silicon CMOS. In a September 25, 2024, Nature paper, its collaborators demonstrated that it could execute programs while bent. The prototype runs at 60 kHz while consuming less than 6 mW, and includes a programmable machine-learning accelerator.
What Flex-RV is—and what “silicon-free” means
Flex-RV is a research microprocessor designed for computing in objects that could benefit from electronics that bend or cost less to manufacture than conventional silicon devices. Its active transistors use IGZO thin-film electronics, and the chip is built on flexible polyimide. It is therefore non-silicon in its transistor technology, rather than a conventional silicon CMOS chip mounted in a bendable package.
The open RISC-V instruction set gives Flex-RV a general-purpose processor architecture. The Nature paper, “Bendable non-silicon RISC-V microprocessor,” describes its architecture and bending tests. Pragmatic Semiconductor calls it the world’s first 32-bit microprocessor in a flexible technology that is fully functional while flexed; that “world’s first” wording is the company’s characterization.
Who built it
The project combines three contributions:
- Qamcom contributed the open-source SERV CPU design and hardware and software engineering.
- Harvard University’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences developed and integrated the programmable machine-learning accelerator and the wider system.
- Pragmatic Semiconductor fabricated the device using its flexible printed-electronics process.
What the demonstrated processor can do
| Capability | Reported result | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Processor architecture | 32-bit RISC-V | Runs general-purpose instructions based on the open RISC-V instruction set. |
| Machine-learning hardware | Integrated programmable ML accelerator and additional ML instructions | Supports machine-learning workloads alongside ordinary processor tasks. |
| Operating point | 60 kHz and less than 6 mW, as demonstrated in the 2024 Nature paper | Indicates an extreme-edge, low-speed design, not a replacement for a modern application processor. |
| Bending tests | Average performance variation no worse than 4.3% under the reported flat and tight-bending conditions | The assembled flexible printed circuit board continued running under those tested conditions; the figure is not a guarantee for every bend radius or use case. |
| Materials | IGZO thin-film transistors on polyimide | Enables a physically flexible device without conventional silicon CMOS transistors. |
Why flexible non-silicon computing could matter
Flex-RV is aimed at objects where a rigid, more capable silicon processor may be too expensive, too large, or unnecessarily complex for the task. The collaborators point to wearables, single-use healthcare equipment, smart packaging and other items that could benefit from simple item-level intelligence.
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The design combines several useful traits for those applications: a bendable substrate, open-standard computing, and an on-chip programmable accelerator. Its low speed and power figure place it in a different category from phones, computers, or other high-performance devices. The intended opportunity is modest computation embedded in high-volume objects, not faster general-purpose computing.
Pragmatic describes its low-temperature printed-electronics process as a route to reduced manufacturing infrastructure and lower-cost, lower-carbon electronics. Those are potential benefits, not a complete independently audited lifecycle comparison: the published information cited here does not establish a specific carbon saving or full environmental footprint for Flex-RV.
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Can you buy Flex-RV?
Flex-RV is documented as a research demonstrator and journal publication, not as a retail microcontroller. The available sources do not confirm a consumer sales listing, a unit price, production volume, or a launch date for this specific chip.
Pragmatic’s relevant commercial route is its FlexIC Foundry, a custom flexible-IC manufacturing service; Qamcom offers specialist RISC-V and embedded-systems engineering. Neither fact establishes that Flex-RV itself is available to purchase.
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