Tracks: 2018FLEX Full Conference, IC/Hybrid Integration, Manufacturing on Flex, Printed Electronics
Flexible Electronics (FE) is emerging for wearables and low-cost internet of things (IoT) nodes benefiting from the low-cost fabrication and mechanical flexibility. Combing FE with thinned silicon chips for flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) can take advantages of both low-cost printed electronics and high performance silicon chips. To design a FHE system, the process design kit (PDK) for FHE is desirable to provide the capabilities for circuit design, simulation and verification for both FE and silicon chips. The key packages of FHE-PDK include technology files for design rule checking (DRC), layout versus schematics (LVS) and layout parasitics extraction (LPE), as well as SPICE models for flexible thin-film transistors (TFT) and passive elements. The circuit and system designers can therefore focus on the design innovations with FHE-PDK, by which means the manufacturable design can be guaranteed for additive manufacturing methods.