IBM silicon process speeds communications chips

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – International Business Machines
Corp. plans to introduce on Friday an improvement to a
microchip manufacturing process that it says will allow for the
production of faster silicon devices for cellular handsets and
other communications devices.

In a statement released late on Thursday, the world’s
largest computer company said it would begin offering customers
its fourth rendition of a manufacturing technique that adds
traces of germanium into chips made of silicon, the building
block of electronics.

IBM said it invented the silicon germanium process more
than a decade ago, and has been improving it ever since. By
adding the element to silicon — a process known as doping –
the chip can operate at a faster clip. That boost is especially
useful for radio communications devices, which need to modulate
rapidly.

The Armonk, New York-based company said the process will
allow chips to operate at speeds of 200 gigahertz, or 200
billion cycles per second. That speed will help enable advanced
communications technologies, including, it said,
collision-avoidance radar for automobiles.

Silicon germanium remains a small part of the overall chip
industry, with annual sales of around $1.6 billion. Doping
silicon with germanium is an alteration to the standard chip
manufacturing process — known as CMOS, or complementary metal
oxide semiconductor.

IBM, whose semiconductor unit also manufactures chips
designed by other companies, said the new silicon germanium
process will be available immediately to customers.

It listed two companies — Sierra Monolithics, a maker of
long-range wireless data communications devices, and Tektronix,
a maker of electronic measurement and monitoring tools — as
users of the process.