Faster chips-
IBM announces faster chips
By Fiona Harvey - 3 Apr 2000 00:52GMT
International Business Machines, the world's biggest computer
manufacturer, will on Monday announce it has invented a way
of making microchips that will increase their speed by a third,
boosting the performance of all computers.
John Kelly, general manager of IBM's Microelectronics Division,
said: "This represents a fundamental shift in the way chips are
built, and will help IBM maintain its lead in the industry."
Industry analysts said the technology, using a material called
"low-k dielectric", could become the standard for future generations of semiconductors,
giving IBM an edge in a highly competitive market.
Computer users will see the benefit of the new chips in faster machines and better
graphics, while mobile phones using them will have longer battery life because the new
chips use less power.
The global semiconductor market was worth $160bn in 1999, and is forecast to grow to
more than $250bn by 2003, according to Dataquest, the market research company.
Small volumes of chips using the new technology are in production now, and IBM plans to
start high volume production in the first half of next year. IBM would not say how many it
plans to produce.
The development concerns the insulation of the copper wires inside the chip.
In order to make chips smaller and more efficient, the wires need to be closer. But if they are
too close, the electrical "crosstalk" or interference disrupts the signals travelling down the
wires.
Low-k dielectric is an insulating material used to shield the millions of individual wires on a
chip. Combining this material with the copper is "extremely difficult", said analysts.
The development puts IBM six months ahead of rivals such as Intel and Motorola of the US
and Hitachi and Toshiba of Japan, said Richard Doherty, analyst at Envisioneering, a US
engineering and IT consulting group.
Intel is the world's biggest manufacturer of semiconductors, with about 40 per cent of the
market by revenue, and IBM is roughly fourth biggest, with between 7 and 10 per cent, he
said.
Within a few years, all semiconductors will be built on this technology, said Keith Diefendorff
of MicroDesign Resources, a research company.
IBM's technique is proprietary, but the material it uses is available from Dow Chemical of the
US. Other manufacturers will make their own versions of the technology now IBM has
shown the way, Mr Diefendorff said.
Mr Doherty said he expected IBM to be the second biggest manufacturer of chips, after Intel,
in five years thanks to its technology and the diverse range of its semiconductor products.