technology
IBM Builds Prototype Chip by Stacking Two 2-Nanometre Layers, Reaching Nearly 100 Billion Transistors
The 10 by 15 millimetre chip uses a two-layer process to achieve record density. New Scientist reported it offers 70 per cent better energy efficiency and 50 per cent higher performance than current leading chips.
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IBM has created a prototype chip measuring 10 millimetres by 15 millimetres that contains almost 100 billion transistors. New Scientist reported the device has nearly twice as many transistors as the previous state-of-the-art chip. The company states the chip will deliver 70 per cent higher energy efficiency and 50 per cent higher performance than current leading chips.
IBM says the technology, referred to as 0.7 nanometre, will reach commercial devices within 10 years. The real advance is a 15-year process that bonds two layers of silicon chips while creating all required electrical connections, avoiding overheating and allowing mass production. New Scientist reported the design is two layers of the 2-nanometre chip IBM announced in 2021.
That 2021 technology is now manufactured by many leading chip foundries and is expected to appear in the next Apple iPhone. Parts of the latest chips are just 15 silicon atoms thick. Chips are produced in batches of hundreds on a single 300-millimetre silicon wafer containing trillions of transistors.
IBM does not claim that components in the 0.7-nanometre technology measure 0.7 nanometres.
