Researchers Create 3-Dimensional Chips

Spy der Mann writes "Professor James Lu and other researchers of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, managed to create three-dimensional chips (coral cache) to optimize the design of future processors and prevent overheating. "Make the interconnect wire shorter, and you cut the delay time," says Lu. "A simple way to make them shorter is to stack the transistors.""

Comments

Been done before, 23 years ago

[chiph]

IBM used a multi layer ceramic module with thermal conduction system on the water-cooled System 3090 mainframe, and still uses the technology today in their zSeries 990, known as the "T-Rex".

The center layers of the substrate include 16 wiring planes arranged in x-y pairs to maximize wiring efficiency. Metallized, 0.12-mm-diameter vias on 0.5-mm centers are used for x-plane-to-y-plane connections. Voltage reference planes are appropriately interspersed for signal wiring impedance control.

See: Thermal Conduction Module: A High-Performance Multilayer Ceramic Package

Chip H.

Re:shorter wires = less resistance

[ToasterofDOOM]

I have to correct you. Since I = V/R where I is the current in amperes, V is the voltage, and R is the resistance in ohms, less resistance means more current. Current is what creates heat and gets work done. Resistance isn't friction, it's simply the volume of electron flow possible through any given medium. Your observation that there would be more resistance was correct, however it would result in more heat. Take basic high school physics before youn try to work that out again. I would know - we did a demonstration in which two different types of hot dogs were used as resistors. Generic brand hot dogs had much more resistance and didnt do much. Ballpark hot dogs OTOH had less and started to smoke within minutes. Also, if you look on the inside of you computer all those little resistors have thousands to millions or more ohms or resistance.

Way too late, but...

[anzha]

Seymour Cray with the Cray 3 had his processor bricks made of Gallium arsenide. The wikipedia article has flaws (I'll try to fix later) but it has the point that he went down the route of the 3d chip and circuitry much earlier than this /. story.

A brilliant man, Seymour...