CPU chips - what is copper?
Galen Rutledge
[SNIP]
>Are there any other benefits?
>I remember reading (but can't remember where) that copper better fills
>deep holes in ICs, as compared to aluminium. This would allow ICs to be
>built with more 3-dimensional structures instead or tending to be laid out
>flat, and thus they could be built more compactly and thus end up faster.
>ICs are built up of layers of metal and silicon, selectively etched off or
>ion impregnated, and so the ability to construct deep structures from the
>surface of the chip allows much more complex and compact circuits to be
>built with fewer manufacturing operations.
[SNIP]
Actually, something interesting in Tuesdays "The Australian" was
reference to a company called Ball Semiconductor;
Their website talks about placing FPU, MMU, Cache, etc. (each part of a
processor) on 1mm speres, and clustering them together to form a 3-d
processor. The method removes the need for clean rooms, and reduces
waste by about 90%.
Sorry if this sounds like an Ad, but I was amazed by this site, and I am
easily excited by change.
The best thing is that the extremely cheap manufacturing process will
permit a variety of prototype processors to be built, thus allowing a
greater experimentation and development of new technologies.
I can't help thinking how a copper PPC chip using ball technology would
fare in the future.