IBM Heralds 3-D Chip Breakthrough 99
David Kesmodel from WSJ writes to let us know about an IBM breakthrough: a practical three-dimensional semiconductor chip that can be stacked on top of another electronic device in a vertical configuration. Chip makers have worked for years to develop ways to connect one type of chip to another vertically to reduce size and power use. The IBM technique of "through-silicon vias" offers a thousand-fold reduction in connector length and a hundred-fold increase in connector density. The new chips may appear in cellphones and other communication devices as soon as next year. PhysOrg has more details.
Very nice, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
I wonder how they will cool this? (Score:4, Interesting)
Unless they decide to leave some of the holes open then anything in the middle is going to overheat?
I always imagined this kind of tech running on some kind of multi layered wire fence with plenty of room for cooling.
Incidentally, didn't Hitachi beat them to the whole 3d element thing?
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/research/recording_
Re:Very nice, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I wonder how they will cool this? (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.zurich.ibm.com/st/cooling/integrated.h
Re:Heat (Score:3, Interesting)
On the other hand, it would be neat to see them put heatsinks between each individual chip. They could still drill and insert the tungsten vias through the heatsink. The heatsinks would probably need to be pretty advanced, though, to move the head to the fringes. Maybe a circulating fluid or something.
Re:Well (Score:1, Interesting)
Sure they are. Every metal trace is an internal heatpipe. It doesn't have to be some crazy fluid filled micro cavity if thats what you were thinking. 3-D circuits have been around for quite some time now. Several labs will fabricate your circuit in 3-D. Its not consumer production ready but it exists and it works. The general consensus in the semiconductor industry is that its not worth the cost (as of the last conference I went to, 23rd VMIC fyi)
Also, pretty much every cell phone already has stacked chips in them. They just wirebond the stacks, no through-chip vias yet that I know of. And these chips work so in a lot of cases heat dissipation isn't really a problem anyway.
Re:I wonder how they will cool this? (Score:1, Interesting)