IBM claims 3D chip advance

by Stephen Withers

Thursday, 12 April 2007

IBM has developed a new technique for chip manufacturing that allows components to be stacked vertically instead of solely being arranged side by side.

The 'through-silicon vias' technology has already been used to manufacture chips on IBM's production line. Samples will be available to customers in the second half of the year, and the technology will go into production in 2008.

"The new IBM method eliminates the need for long-metal wires that connect today's 2D chips together, instead relying on through-silicon vias, which are essentially vertical connections etched through the silicon wafer and filled with metal," explained IBM officials.

This allows designers to produce more compact component packages, shortens on-chip data paths by 1000 times, and allows up to 100 times as many pathways.

"This breakthrough is a result of more than a decade of pioneering research at IBM," said Lisa Su, vice president, semiconductor research and development center, IBM. "This allows us to move 3D chips from the 'lab to the fab' across a range of applications."

Early targets for the technology include wireless communications, Power CPUs and IBM's Blue Gene supercomputers.{moscomment}

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