Records Fall for 3D Chip Tech

As transistor sizes shrink to their atomic limits, computing demands are only growing. Sending chips to the third dimension is the future: Chips stacked on other chips can get more work done in the same footprint, saving time and energy. A 3D chipmaking technology called hybrid bonding is leading the charge in such efforts. Last month, two research teams used the tech to make hundreds of thousands more connections per millimeter than were previously possible, setting new records. Presented at the IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) in Orlando, Fla., both results drastically reduced the bond pitch, the distances between the copper connections that bridge hybrid-bonded chips. The smaller the pitches, the more connections can fit in a package, and the more efficiently