- News>
- ICE Economy
Tiny chips: IBM in nanotech breakthrough
New York, Dec 08: IBM said on Monday it made an advance in nanotechnology that could make it easier to build smaller, better performing microchips for electronics such as computers and cell phones.
New York, Dec 08: IBM said on Monday it made an advance in nanotechnology that could make it easier to build smaller, better performing microchips for electronics such as computers and cell phones.
Researchers at Armonk, New York-based International Business Machines combined the ability of molecules to arrange themselves into tiny patterns, called self-assembly, with standard chip-making tools and built a tiny computer memory device.
The device acts as a type of flash memory, which retains recent information when an electronic device is turned off, making it useful for handheld computer devices and cell phones.
In this case, when select organic materials were applied, the molecules arranged themselves into a honeycomb pattern. The holes in the pattern are about 20 nanometers, or 20 billionths of a meter, across, and 40 nanometers apart from each other. A human hair is 50,000 nanometers.
"The dimensions are smaller than you could do using any kind of multimillion dollar lithography," according to Chuck Black, a researcher on the project. Lithography is about 200 nanometers, so that makes the patterns about 10 times smaller, he said.
"It's almost magical in that the polymer puts itself together," Black said.
While IBM used the new process to build a tiny memory device, it said the technology could be useful for making microprocessors , which are more complex.
Because molecules assemble themselves in the process, it could eliminate complexity in certain phases of semiconductor production, potentially decreasing the cost, Black said.
Currently, circuitry is overlayed onto silicon wafers using a process known as lithography, where the image of the design of how the wires are laid out is first projected onto the silicon. Then a chemical wash carves out the spaces between the circuitry. The raised parts become the wires that transfer electrical current within the chip.
That lithography process is unable to produce microelectronics that are vastly smaller than those used today.
The new process does not require changes in chip-making equipment, IBM said, adding that it expects self-assembly techniques could be used in pilot projects three to five years from now.
IBM will report the development in a paper at the International Electron Devices Meeting on Dec 9 in Washington DC
Bureau Report
Researchers at Armonk, New York-based International Business Machines combined the ability of molecules to arrange themselves into tiny patterns, called self-assembly, with standard chip-making tools and built a tiny computer memory device.
The device acts as a type of flash memory, which retains recent information when an electronic device is turned off, making it useful for handheld computer devices and cell phones.
In this case, when select organic materials were applied, the molecules arranged themselves into a honeycomb pattern. The holes in the pattern are about 20 nanometers, or 20 billionths of a meter, across, and 40 nanometers apart from each other. A human hair is 50,000 nanometers.
"The dimensions are smaller than you could do using any kind of multimillion dollar lithography," according to Chuck Black, a researcher on the project. Lithography is about 200 nanometers, so that makes the patterns about 10 times smaller, he said.
"It's almost magical in that the polymer puts itself together," Black said.
While IBM used the new process to build a tiny memory device, it said the technology could be useful for making microprocessors , which are more complex.
Because molecules assemble themselves in the process, it could eliminate complexity in certain phases of semiconductor production, potentially decreasing the cost, Black said.
Currently, circuitry is overlayed onto silicon wafers using a process known as lithography, where the image of the design of how the wires are laid out is first projected onto the silicon. Then a chemical wash carves out the spaces between the circuitry. The raised parts become the wires that transfer electrical current within the chip.
That lithography process is unable to produce microelectronics that are vastly smaller than those used today.
The new process does not require changes in chip-making equipment, IBM said, adding that it expects self-assembly techniques could be used in pilot projects three to five years from now.
IBM will report the development in a paper at the International Electron Devices Meeting on Dec 9 in Washington DC
Bureau Report