• IBM, 3M team up on 3D semiconductor
    42 replies, posted
[QUOTE]IBM and 3M today said they will develop new adhesives designed to build silicon towers that will be packaged on 3D semiconductors. The collaboration--IBM brings the semiconductor know-how and 3M is the adhesive expert--aims to make commercial 3D chips via new materials. According to IBM, the idea is to stack semiconductors in layers up to 100 chips. These chip stacks would allow for better integration and system-on-a-chip capability. Compute, networking, and memory could be stacked on one processor. IBM has outlined nanoscale breakthroughs before, but one big hurdle is finding the materials to package these 3D silicon skyscrapers. New adhesives are needed to conduct heat and keep logic circuits cool. In other words, IBM can stack a few chips, but the challenges escalate as it gets to hundreds of thousands of stacks. [QUOTE][IMG]http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/09/07/ibm3m1_610x317.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/09/07/ibm3m1a_610x398.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] The aim of 3M and IBM is to create adhesives that can coat entire silicon wafers by 2013. The first incarnations of 3D processors will be available for devices like [URL="http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/"]tablets[/URL] and smartphones in about the same time frame, but with smaller chip stacks. Bernard Meyerson, vice president of research at IBM, said in an interview that Big Blue and 3M collaborated because each party has unique skills. IBM has crude methods to stack chips and link them together, but the process didn't scale. "3M has unbelievable innovation," said Meyerson, referring to things like nano encapsulation and other adhesives. "Glue isn't the right word--it's more like a thermal solution that can hold chips together, conduct, and be insulating," he said. Although 2013 seems like an aggressive timeline, Meyerson was confident that the companies will get there. 3M will then get a specialized adhesive to market and IBM will go about stacking chips.[QUOTE] [IMG]http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/09/07/ibm3m2_610x319.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] [QUOTE][B][tab]Source:[/tab] [URL="http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-20102751-76/ibm-3m-team-up-on-3d-semiconductor-glue/"]CNet[/URL][/B][/QUOTE][/QUOTE] Obligatory -"But, can it run Crysis?".
If they become able to stack regular chips ontop of each other, doesn't that mean processing power will basically explode, since if you stack 10 chips, and it says they intend to do 100's, you already have 10 times the processing power of the most powerful cpu available. Why would we ever need a new cpu again? It seems like they're locking up the cpu market, atleast until the power of 100 advanced cpu's at once is no longer enough.
[QUOTE=Wam;32182829]If they become able to stack regular chips ontop of each other, doesn't that mean processing power will basically explode, since if you stack 10 chips, and it says they intend to do 100's, you already have 10 times the processing power of the most powerful cpu available. Why would we ever need a new cpu again? It seems like they're locking up the cpu market, atleast until the power of 100 advanced cpu's at once is no longer enough.[/QUOTE] I bet they'll be really expensive.
I'm more interested in this proposed thermal adhesive, and how they're going to allow hundreds of processors to communicate through it.
CPU's will be like massive cubes.
[QUOTE=leontodd;32183045]CPU's will be like massive cubes.[/QUOTE] Massive? They'll probably shrink quickly.
[QUOTE=leontodd;32183045]CPU's will be like massive cubes.[/QUOTE] It will be actually whole computers, except power supply and HDD and so on.
I bet they will be insanely hot.
Got to say, a cube shaped CPU would be awesome. Just by the looks of it, and with a good designer you could make it look REALLY good, get it its own little metal case.
[QUOTE=Rapist;32183263]Got to say, a cube shaped CPU would be awesome. Just by the looks of it, and with a good designer you could make it look REALLY good, get it its own little metal case.[/QUOTE] Alienware will cum buckets
Smart design move
[QUOTE=Rapist;32183263]Got to say, a cube shaped CPU would be awesome. Just by the looks of it, and with a good designer you could make it look REALLY good, get it its own little metal case.[/QUOTE] [img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/3012001532_7acc7b7c6e_z.jpg[/img] DO WANT No serioisly, why am i dumb? who does not want a cpu that looks like a companion cube? Or a tiny computer that looks like a companion cube?
Does this mean they will start making HSF's with the form of a hollow cube? (3 sided cube)
I wonder when Intel is going to go further and build their chips vertically, imagine on-die water cooling
That certainly opens up interesting opportunities to integrate graphics, cpu and ram into a single chip-package. That would allow insane communication speeds between each other. I say, this is the future of PCs.
[QUOTE=DrLuke;32188849]That certainly opens up interesting opportunities to integrate graphics, cpu and ram into a single chip-package. That would allow insane communication speeds between each other. I say, this is the future of PCs.[/QUOTE] The future of PCs is cubes
How do they plan to cool these down?
[QUOTE=Dr.C;32190095]How do they plan to cool these down?[/QUOTE] [B]SCIENCE[/B]
But can it run BF3?
It'll be interesting to see developments in this kind of technology. Wouldn't heat dissipation be less of a problem if one could possibly make a donut shaped (or even square donut shaped) CPU like this and have a part of the heatsink go down the center? Donuts have holes in them so they can fry equally so naturally that concept could be applied to one of these as well...
[QUOTE=shian;32190988]But can it run BF3?[/QUOTE] BF3 won't be CPU demanding, only barely GPU demanding.
I just don't get why they want to stack the semiconductors, that will cause ridiculous heat problems. [editline]9th September 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Rapist;32183263]Got to say, a cube shaped CPU would be awesome. Just by the looks of it, and with a good designer you could make it look REALLY good, get it its own little metal case.[/QUOTE] The thing is, every layer is literally only microns thick.
[QUOTE=Fourm Shark;32193495]"I would like to purchase PCCube-Package 3, yeah, the one with the 256 core processor. Ok, Ill take the 512 core package then, with 128GB of RAM build it. Alright, A payment of $500 will be sent by Friday." Give em 20 years.[/QUOTE] I would.
[QUOTE=fenwick;32192917]I just don't get why they want to stack the semiconductors, that will cause ridiculous heat problems.[/QUOTE] You can have more computational power within a smaller space. The only problem in all the years only was the heat dissipation, which they've solved now.
Jesus christ we'll be able to run a trillion instances of Pong in 10 years. That's a lot of Pong.
[QUOTE=doonbugie2;32192869]BF3 won't be CPU demanding, only barely GPU demanding.[/QUOTE] Barely? Have you seen the explosions?!
[QUOTE=Bat-shit;32202822]Barely? Have you seen the explosions?![/QUOTE] Those explosions arent much for my Crossfire 5770 combo.
[QUOTE=doonbugie2;32203268]Those explosions arent much for my Crossfire 5770 combo.[/QUOTE] I wouldn't call running [i]two[/i] pretty recent GPU's "barely GPU demanding" but ok.
Computers will be a series of cubes.
[QUOTE=DrLuke;32195114]You can have more computational power within a smaller space. The only problem in all the years only was the heat dissipation, which they've solved now.[/QUOTE] There are very few applications which require such a small space. And the problem is, the likely cooling mechanisms necessary would negate any benefits anyway. "Hey, check out my water cooled phone!" Probably for some military application we don't know about.
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