IBM has announced a breakthrough self-assembling nanotechnology for conventional chip manufacturing, borrowing a process from nature, to build the next-generation computer chips. The natural pattern-creating process that forms seashells, snowflakes, and even enamel on teeth has been harnessed to form trillions of holes, creating insulating vacuums around the miles of nano-scale conductors packed next to each other inside each computer chip.

In chips running in IBM labs using the technique, the researchers have proven that the electrical signals on the chips can flow 35% faster, or the chips can consume 15% less energy compared to the most advanced chips using conventional techniques.

This new form of insulation, commonly referred to as "air gaps" by scientists, is a misnomer, as the gaps are actually vacuums, absent of air. The technique deployed by IBM causes a vacuum to form between copper conductors on a computer chip, enabling electrical signals to flow faster, while consuming less electrical power. The self-assembly process enables the nano-scale patterning required to form the gaps. This patterning is considerably smaller than current lithographic techniques can achieve.

A vacuum is believed to be the ultimate dielectric for wiring capacitance that occurs when two conductors, in this case adjacent conductors on a chip, dissipate electrical energy, thereby generating undesirable heat and slowing the speed at which data can move through a chip.

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