Adhesive Lets 3-D Microchips Go Deep
IBM and 3M have come up with an adhesive that will allow them to stack up to 100 semiconductors onto a single microchip. Larry Greenemeier reports
SUBSCRIBE TO 60-Second Tech
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Makers of the microchips found in smartphones, tablets and other gadgets are figuring out something that urban planners learned a long time ago—when you can no longer build out, you need to build up.
Stacked integrated circuits are today's tech skyscrapers. They're vital as consumer electronics makers look to cram more processing power and memory into smaller devices. But just like any other skyscraper, these 3-D chips have to keep the power flowing from layer to layer without overheating.
IBM and 3M recently announced that they have a cool solution: a unique adhesive for packing the chip’s layers. This adhesive can efficiently conduct heat through the densely packed layers of semiconductors inside these chips. This packaging should also keep heat away from sensitive components like logic circuits.
The companies say their new adhesive will be able to tightly stack up to 100 logic, networking and memory semiconductors into a single chip. Which could deliver processing speeds of up to one-thousand times faster than today—and turn your next iPhone from a four-story walk-up to a luxury high-rise.
—Larry Greenemeier
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
