A machine-maker for the semiconductor industry says it has found an unusual way to quadruple the performance of today's microprocessor chips, an advance that could speed up many computer functions.
The production improvement, to be announced Monday by Plasma & Materials Technologies Inc., is still in the test stage. But it tackles a growing challenge faced by chipmakers as they cram more and more transistors onto each microprocessor: Keeping its signals from getting crossed.The thumbnail-size microprocessor functions as the "brains" of a computer. An ability to carry signals four times more efficiently would enable computers to perform calculations in one-fourth the time it now takes. It also could allow manufacturers to fit more transistors onto each chip, a growing hurdle to building more powerful computers.
Plasma & Materials Technologies, a company that sells manufacturing equipment to chipmakers, said several customers are testing the new method and, if found to be reliable, will use it for mass production in 1998. It would be used for producing microprocessors as well as memory chips with improved capacity for storing computer information.
The company, based in Chatsworth, Calif., said it developed a better way to apply insulation material between the millions of tiny wires that connect a chip's transistors, dramatically reducing interference between the signals they carry.
Chipmakers typically use gases containing silicon dioxide to create the insulation. The gas later hardens on the chip during a heating process.
But the method developed by Plasma & Materials Technologies over the past four years, dubbed "Flowfill," applies the insulation in a liquid state and adds a tiny amount of carbon to the mix - giving properties to the insulation that reduce interference between wires.
The company says the insulation's "dielectric constant" - a measure of its effectiveness - is below 2.0. That is considered far less than constants of about 3.5 for today's most efficient insulation.
"That's a pretty major improvement," said Daniel Klesken, a semiconductor analyst at Robertson Stephens & Co. in San Francisco. "It's all about having a nice clean signal between the different transistors on the circuit."
Industry analysts said the development could spark wide interest among manufacturers as they attempt to squeeze more transistors on each chip. While more transistors result in faster computers, they also mean more wires connecting them - and more chances for interference between signals.
For example, Intel Corp.'s Pentium Pro has 5.5 million transistors.
"If you took an existing (microprocessor) and replaced the dialectic with this new material, you would speed up the operation considerably," said Tony Denboer, a chip analyst with Integrated Circuit Engineering, a consultant firm in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Greg Campbell, founder and chief executive of Plasma & Materials Technologies, said that Intel, the dominant chipmaker, was not currently among companies testing its manufacturing process.