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Intel will be unveiling a breakthrough new chip packaging design on Monday that will play an essential role in allowing processing power to grow.
Bumpless Build-Up Layer (BBUL) packaging, as the technology is called, will channel all traffic through an extremely thin network of interconnections surrounding the chip. According to Intel, BBUL is set to be introduced commercially in five or six years.
How the chip fits into the package is also set to change. Currently, processors sit on top of the package, but with BBUL, the microchip will be embedded in the package: the package will actually be built around the chip, with the same principles and techniques used to build the chips themselves.
As microchips become increasingly complex, they require more power and connection to operate. In fact, some chips have as many as 5,000 surfaces that must be connected to the inside surface of the package. Additionally, the packaging itself needs to be connected to the motherboard, which can have as many as 500 connections.
With all of the power and wires required to run many state-of-the-art chips, noise, heat and the potential for interference continues to rise as well. However, Intel's BBUL is set to change all of that.
According to Intel, in five years time microprocessors will have the equivalent of one billion transistors and will run at 20GHz. Those new processors will require a vast amount of signals and a high degree of electricity to run, and the new packaging is essential to make these next-generation processors possible.
The new packaging will be only half as thick as those now available and will cut down on heat by using less metal. Costs are also expected to go down by using less material, according to the company.
Despite the tight market for semiconductors Intel has continued to invest heavily in its research & development programmes, under the direction of David Tennenhouse, formerly of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The chip giant is set to spend some USD4 billion this year on R&D, and according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Intel will also open up to three research labs near universities in the US this year.
Important research sectors identified by Intel include microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), distributed systems, biotechnology, statistics and machine vision.
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