IBM to Make Smaller Chips That Do More

New production process can create smaller chips that use less power and offer higher performance.

Later this year IBM will introduce a new generation of fast, low-power microprocessors created using a new production technology, the company announced today. The 0.20-micron process will let IBM shrink circuitry smaller than ever before and fit more computer logic onto a single chip, company officials said.

The benefit is clear: Miniaturization allows computer intelligence to be built into products that are smaller, have more complex functions, use less power, and require less cooling.

IBM could use the new manufacturing process to make chips for both mainframe and mid-range RS/6000 and AS/400 computers. It could also be used to make PowerPC chips for desktop computers as well as chips and chip sets for other consumer electronics devices. Published reports this morning quote IBM as saying it will begin offering the new chips in the first half of 1998.

IBM%squots process is the first to use copper metallization. The use of copper enhances the electrical properties of a chip%squots wiring, yielding significant performance gains, the company said. Also, transistors based on the new technology operate at only 1.8 volts, compared to 3.3 volts for today%squots devices.

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