IBM touts chips made with self-assembly nanotechnology

By Colleen Taylor, Contributing Editor -- Electronic News, 5/3/2007

Making good on years of buzz, IBM today announced that self-assembly nanotechnology has indeed been applied with success to conventional chip manufacturing.
 
The company unveiled the thumbnail-sized Airgap microprocessor -- a chip IBM said was created using the same natural self-assembling forces that make snowflake patterns to form trillions of holes to create insulating vacuums around the lengths of nano-scale wires packed next to each other inside each computer chip.

The technique causes a vacuum, or airgap, to form between the copper wires on a computer chip, allowing electrical signals to flow faster, while consuming less electrical power. The self-assembly process allows the nano-scale patterning required to form the gaps; this patterning is considerably smaller than current lithographic techniques can achieve, according to IBM.

The new technique to make airgaps by self-assembly skips the masking and light-etching process. Instead, IBM scientists claimed they have discovered the right mix of compounds, which they pour onto a silicon wafer with the wired chip patterns, then bake it.

The compounds then assemble in a directed manner, IBM said, creating trillions of uniform, nano-scale holes across an entire 300-mm wafer. After these 20-nm diameter holes are formed, the carbon silicate glass is removed, creating a vacuum between the wires.

According to IBM, the new technology can be incorporated into any standard CMOS manufacturing line, without disruption or new tooling.

In chips running in IBM labs using the technique, Big Blue's researchers said they have proven that the electrical signals on the chips can flow 35 percent faster, or the chips can consume 15 percent less energy compared to the most advanced chips using conventional techniques.

The self-assembly process already has been integrated with IBM's manufacturing line in East Fishkill, N.Y., and is expected to be fully incorporated in IBM's manufacturing lines and used in chips in 2009. The chips will be used in IBM's server product lines and thereafter for chips IBM builds for other companies.