pctechguide.com

  • Home
  • Guides
  • Tutorials
  • Articles
  • Reviews
  • Glossary
  • Contact

Copper Interconnect Architecture

Every chip has a base layer of transistors, with layers of wiring stacked above to connect the transistors to each other and, ultimately, to the rest of the computer. The transistors at the first level of a chip are a complex construction of silicon, metal, and impurities precisely located to create the millions of minuscule on-or-off switches that make up the brains of a microprocessor. Breakthroughs in chip technology have most often been advances in transistor-making. As scientists kept making smaller, faster transistors and packing them closer together, the interconnect started to present problems.

Copper

Aluminium had long been the conductor of choice, but by the mid-1990s it was clear that it would soon reach the technological and physical limits of existing technology. Pushing electrons through smaller and smaller conduits becomes harder to do – aluminium just isn’t fast enough at these new, smaller sizes. Scientists had seen this problem coming for years and sought to find a way to replace aluminium with one of the three metals that conduct electricity better: copper, silver, or gold. However, after many years of trying, no one had succeeded in making a marketable copper chip.

All this changed in September 1998, when IBM used its revolutionary new copper interconnect technology to produce a chip which used copper wires, rather than the traditional aluminium interconnects, to link transistors. It was immediately apparent that this seemingly minor change would have significant repercussions for future processor designs. Copper interconnects promised the ability to shrink die sizes and reduce power consumption, while allowing faster CPU speeds from the same basic design.

IBM has historically been renown for its lead in process technology, but has often failed to capitalise on it commercially. This time it has implemented the technology rapidly, first announcing the 0.18-micron CMOS 7SF Damascus process at the end of 1997. Subsequent development was by a four-company alliance which included fabrication equipment manufacturer Novellus Systems and, in 1999 IBM offered the 7SF process to third parties as part of its silicon foundry services.

One of the problems which had thwarted previous attempts to use copper for electrical connections was its tendency to diffuse into the silicon dioxide substrate used in chips – rendering the chip useless. The secret of IBM’s new technology is a thin barrier layer, usually made from refractory titanium or tungsten nitride. This is applied after the photolithographic etching of the channels in the substrate. A microscopic seed layer of copper is deposited on top of this to enable the subsequent copper layer, deposited over the whole chip by electroplating, to bond. Chemical polishing removes surplus copper.

  • Principles of CPU architecture – logic gates, MOSFETS and voltage
  • Basic structure of a Pentium microprocessor
  • Microprocessor Evolution
  • IA-32 (Intel Architecture 32 ) – base instruction set for 32 bit processors
  • Pentium P5 microarchitecture – superscalar and 64 bit data
  • Pentium Pro (P6) 6th generation x86 microarchitecture
  • Dual Independent Bus (DIB) – frontside and backside data bus CPU architecture
  • NetBurst – Pentium 4 7th generation x86 CPU microarchitecture
  • Intel Core – 8th generation CPU architecture
  • Moore’s Law in IT Architecture
  • Architecture Manufacturing Process
  • Copper Interconnect Architecture
  • TeraHertz Technology
  • Software Compatibility
  • IA-64 Architecture
  • Illustrated guide to high-k dielectrics and metal gate electrodes

Filed Under: CPU Architecture

Latest Articles

SCSI Interface Evolution

SCSI-1, the original 1986 standard, is now obsolete. It used asynchronous transfer, where the host and the device, blind to the other's maximum potential, slowly exchanged 8 bits at a time, offering a bandwidth of 3 MBps. … [Read More...]

How to Get Music From Ipod to Computer

When it comes to getting music from your ipod onto your computer, Itunes does not let you. The music industry is very concerned over piracy and Itunes shares the same concerns.  Because of this they only allow your Ipod to be synced with one Itunes install on a single computer. Here … [Read More...]

Optical drives – WORM Write Once Read Many technology

Despite the floptical's failure to oust the traditional floppy disk, for several years it appeared likely that optical drives, which read/wrote data with lasers which are far more precise than the drive heads on a traditional hard drive, were destined to replace magnetic disk … [Read More...]

Comments

  1. Nothanks2034 says

    February 20, 2012 at 6:04 pm

    This was first invented at TI 1995, look it up.

    • Anonymous says

      February 20, 2012 at 8:48 pm

      Provide a source so we can. From all research done this article is accurate. “All this changed in September 1998, when IBM used its revolutionary new copper interconnect technology to produce a chip which used copper wires”. IBM was the first to use copper interconnect technology to produce a chip that used copper wires.

Gaming Laptop Security Guide: Protecting Your High-End Hardware Investment in 2025

Since Jacob took over PC Tech Guide, we’ve looked at how tech intersects with personal well-being and digital safety. Gaming laptops are now … [Read More...]

20 Cool Creative Commons Photographs About the Future of AI

AI technology is starting to have a huge impact on our lives. The market value for AI is estimated to have been worth $279.22 billion in 2024 and it … [Read More...]

13 Impressive Stats on the Future of AI

AI technology is starting to become much more important in our everyday lives. Many businesses are using it as well. While he has created a lot of … [Read More...]

Graphic Designers on Reddit Share their Views of AI

There are clearly a lot of positive things about AI. However, it is not a good thing for everyone. One of the things that many people are worried … [Read More...]

Redditors Talk About the Impact of AI on Freelance Writers

AI technology has had a huge impact on our lives. A 2023 survey by Pew Research found that 56% of people use AI at least once a day or once a week. … [Read More...]

11 Most Popular Books on Perl Programming

Perl is not the most popular programming language. It has only one million users, compared to 12 million that use Python. However, it has a lot of … [Read More...]

Guides

  • Computer Communications
  • Mobile Computing
  • PC Components
  • PC Data Storage
  • PC Input-Output
  • PC Multimedia
  • Processors (CPUs)

Recent Posts

How to Remove Zentom System Guard

Easiest Removal Option: Remote Repair: Paying an expert to remove this threat is always the easiest option. It's also the most expensive. … [Read More...]

Nvidia Machine Learning Leads to Impressive 3D Graphics

New machine learning technology is constantly changing the future of graphic design. Nvidia is creating some impressive changes in this area. Their … [Read More...]

Modems

A modem allows a PC to connect to other computers and enables it to send and receive files of data over the telephone … [Read More...]

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2025 About | Privacy | Contact Information | Wrtie For Us | Disclaimer | Copyright License | Authors