IBM's new 30nm process keeps Moore's Law intact

We've been seeing a few alternative chip technologies be tossed around lately since it's hard to believe that current manufacturing methods can get much more precise than 65 or 40 nanometers, but IBM ain't having none of that pessimistic talk, claiming that they've developed a way to extend optical lithography down to 30nm. The new method uses some fancy fluid immersion to help slow down the etching lasers, but doesn't require a large revamp of the manufacturing process like the proposed X-ray method or other plans for Moore's Law continuation. Hopefully this means we'll have cheap methods of low-heat, high-speed computing for the foreseeable future instead of having to spring for those brain-in-a-vat boxes which we hear are just around the corner.

[sk @ Feb 20th 2006 1:12PM]

This must be good news for AMD as they work closely together with IBM on new chip developments.

[Peff_D @ Feb 20th 2006 1:23PM]

here's a thought...

Let's spend our brain bytes working on the keeping up with Moore's Law for BATTERY PERFORMANCE...

[Joe @ Feb 20th 2006 1:38PM]

Number 2: You want your battery to go twice as quick every 18 months? ;)

Thanks, I'll be here all week. Try the fish!

[Justin @ Feb 20th 2006 2:04PM]

@Peff: Moore's Law can't be applied to capacitors, silly :)

Search Google News for MIT's carbon nanotube-based "ultracapacitor" research. Nickel cadmium and lithium ion batteries are still pretty good - but we're only a few years off from this new nanotube based capacitor seeing mass production.

[g moore @ Feb 20th 2006 2:15PM]

moore's law is DEAD for processor speed. Seems like it stopped with 3GHz chips 3 YEARS ago now.

we'll continue to get screwed with batteries as we do with flash memory chips

[z3n @ Feb 20th 2006 2:47PM]

The hardware cos. have been doing some "profit-taking," and it has hurt R&D. It's nice to see the science getting done and the market finally moving forward again with some competition. I mean . . . it took IBM, afterall.

[XGM @ Feb 20th 2006 4:29PM]

To # 5 g moore, your very late in tech. Were up to 5 GHz processors, and theve been out for a few months already. The best part, some of em hit 7 GHz overclocked

[EUV_Dude @ Feb 20th 2006 4:44PM]

I love when people make press-friendly statements like "Moore's Law is dead!" Makes good news doesn't it, gloom & doom in Intels future? It's dead wrong. 193nm can now be used to produce useful 32nm impressions (compare to current 45nm), those chips are probably only a year or so down the road.

Also, Intel and the other EUV LLC companies are well on their way to producing patterns using 10.3nm wavelengths...which IMO will push chips the chips (and the Law) to it's breaking point, but I guess what I am trying to say is don't negate the power of the almighty corporation when considering the relevance of Moore's Law (more like a self-fulfilling prophecy) in todays lithography. As for tomorrow, who knows what technology they will think of next to keep the ball rolling...

[Blake Farrow @ Feb 20th 2006 5:02PM]

at #5

Moore's law doesnt say anything about the clock speeds of chips, it just says that the amount of transistors that can be packed in a square inch of space doubles every 18 months.. thats why this new smaller 30nm stuff keeps it intact. And comparing the first P4 3Ghz chips to the newest intel and AMD 2.8 or 3ghz chips is really no competition. Remeber the megahertz myth.

[EUV_LLC_dude @ Feb 20th 2006 5:37PM]

to #8: Hear Hear! The SPIE conference is this week in
San Jose and from the agenda, things look great,
especially in the EUV and new immersion tequniques.
For those who think Moore's law is dead, I suggest
going to the meeting or just reading "The Singularity
is Near" by Ray Kurzweil.

[g moore @ Feb 20th 2006 5:46PM]

#7

i was saying the doubling every 18 months stopped at 3 Ghz. If it were still true we'd be at 12 Ghz by now

but now i realize that moore's law doesn't apply to clock speed

[ronin @ Feb 21st 2006 2:21AM]

Darn and I was so hoping for a brain in a box. Perhaps 2.

[joetlnf @ Feb 21st 2006 2:46PM]

I think it's important to note that the fluid immersion doesn't really "slow down" the etching lasers; this isn't about etch speed. The fluid is a focusing element at the surface of the chip to help deal with diffraction, i.e. the spreading out of light due to its wave nature. The plastic coating on a DVD or CD works in a similar way.