The flexible chip released in Hangzhou on Saturday Photo: Courtesy of the Global Research Center for Flexible Electronics & Intelligent Technology

The Global Research Center for Flexible Electronics & Intelligent Technology, a research institute based in East China's Zhejiang Province, has released two types of flexible chips that are thinner than 25 microns, which is less than one-quarter of the diameter of a human hair. 

These chips will have a transformative impact in areas including digital medical treatment, artificial intelligence (AI) and other sectors.

Flexible chips could be a great supplement for conventional rigid chips, to be used in many scenarios where rigid chips aren't appropriate such as human medical monitoring, experts said.

"Just like band-aids, the shape of flexible chips could vary along with the applications," Wang Bo, leader of the flexible chips research team, told the Global Times on Monday. 

The chips display our flexible technological breakthrough in the field of flexible electronics manufacturing, and they will reshape electronic products, Wang noted.

The chips were released during the just-concluded second International Conference on Flexible Electronics in Hangzhou, according to a statement from the center's public relations office sent to the Global Times.

The meeting gathered more than 600 scholars and experts in the field of flexible electronics from many countries including China, the US and Singapore. The two new chips are an Op-amp chip and a Bluetooth SoC chip, read the statement.

"In terms of practical application, the chips could be used in industrial equipment inspection, human medical monitoring and others," Wang said.

He said that the chips will have profound impact in fields such as AI and digital medical treatment, because thinner and softer electronic-sensing systems could be designed based on flexible-chip technology, which will be more sensitive to the environment and human body.

"The chips are just examples of our flexible technology, and we can apply the technology to a lot of other sectors," Wang said. 

"Flexible technology is the foundation of future electronic products manufacturing, but there are still many difficulties ahead of practical application," Wang said.

Comprehensively promoting the application of the technology and cooperating with other industries is the next step, he said. 

"Flexible electronics is a frontier technology and it has promising market prospects," Geng Bo, vice secretary-general of the China Solid State Lighting Alliance, a semiconductor industry association, told the Global Times on Monday.

Compared with conventional chips, flexible chips are thinner and lighter, with advanced ductility. They could be shaped for tailored scenarios, such as subskin implanted chips used for the measurement of blood glucose, Geng said.

Technical problems including safety and stand-by times must be enhanced ahead of large-scale application, Geng noted.

China has been stepping up efforts to rapidly develop its advanced technologies such as chips and foster its own industrial chains amid the trade war with the US.
Newspaper headline: Ultra-thin chips mean transformation