IBM chip technique 'may save billions'

IBM was last night due to announce that company scientists have developed a technique for printing circuitry on silicon that could make computer chips significantly more powerful, while extending the life of current manufacturing technology, potentially saving billions of dollars in plant reconstruction.

Most semiconductor manufacturers use a process known as optical lithography, where lasers imprint patterns on silicon wafers with features as small as 90 nanometres. A nanometre is a billionth of a metre.

As components get smaller, more can be crammed onto a single chip, enabling smaller devices that are more powerful.

Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, began introducing processors on the 65-nanometre node late last year, but most computer processors are still at 90 nanometres.

IBM's technique, a variation of "immersion lithography" that was expected to be announced last night at a conference in San José, California, uses an oil-like organic fluid with a higher refractive index than water, resulting in highly focused laser beams that produce lines 29.9 nanometres apart. That is about 3,000 times thinner than a human hair.

"This technique could be quite an attractive option to make chips at 25 nanometres," Gian-Luca Bona, functional manager of science and technology at IBM's Almaden research centre in San José, said. This could result in processor and memory chips that are smaller, faster, cheaper and use less power, IBM says.

By extending uses for optical lithography, chip-makers can delay switching manufacturing processes, while buying time for other technologies to mature.

IBM's process could mean that optical lithography could be used through 2013.

"This result is the strongest evidence to date that the industry may have at least seven years of breathing room before any radical changes in chip-making techniques would be needed," said Robert Allen, manager of lithography materials at IBM's Almaden lab. That should be welcome news to chip-makers, who want to avoid costly disruption, according to Klaus Rinnen, head of the manufacturing group at technology market researcher Gartner.

"Whenever you can extend something in use for a long time, the industry will always look at this first," Mr Rinnen said.

Costs associated with retooling chip factories, re-educating workers in new processes and loss of productivity represent considerable risk and expense, Mr Rinnen said.

It's not possible to quantify the cost savings IBM's technique could achieve, but new factories cost billions of dollars.

A senior Intel scientist called the IBM development "interesting", and noted it was one of several options for chip manufacturing. - (LA Times/Washington Post)