Chip to handle 20 GHz processors

Intel is about to unveil a new design for the silicon and metal vehicles that connect the microprocessor to the rest of the computer.

The company says the breakthrough will play an essential role in allowing processing power to grow. Five years from now, microprocessors will run at 20 GHz. Bumpless build-up layer packaging will essentially channel all that traffic through an extremely thin web of interconnections, tiny wires that link chip circuits, surrounding the chip.

Bumpless build-up layer packaging allows a far more ornate web than can be produced through current packaging technology. "Your package interconnect density has to be extremely complex," said Koushik Banerjee, the technical adviser for the Assembly Technology Development department at Intel. "The part that is going to kill performance in the future is the interconnect length."