Motorola says it will go into production of copper-based chips later this year, following successful testing of its first silicon wafers using copper. IBM announced a new copper-based process, CMOS 7S, last September and was followed shortly afterwards by Motorola. Motorola is however generally thought to be lagging IBM in this field.
Copper promises faster, more highly-integrated chips which run at lower voltages.
The rewards will therefore be rich for chip manufacturers cracking the process first. The urgency for Motorola is however greater. All rights reserved. All Rights Reserved.