Intel has announced a major breakthrough in chip technology with the development of glass substrates that promise to increase the area of microcircuits. This technology, which took about 10 years and $1 billion to develop, offers improved thermal and optical properties compared to organic materials (source).
The use of glass substrates not only increases the size and number of transistors to 1 trillion, but also allows for compact integration of components within a single microcircuit case. These microcircuits, known as “systems-in-package” (SIP), utilize chipples, which are multiple separate crystals combined into a single structure (source).
Working prototypes using glass substrates with through glass crossings (TGC) that have a thickness of 75 micrometers already exist. Originally aimed at the consumer sector, the focus has now shifted towards data centers and high-performance computing (source).
An advantage of glass substrates is that they can be combined with existing chip manufacturing methods, minimizing the need for extensive changes to production processes. This reduces economic risk and accelerates the integration of these innovations (source).
Intel is already working closely with key partners and clients, including major data centers and server equipment manufacturers, to meet the growing demand for updated chips (source).
The company is committed to following the Law of Moore, which predicts that the number of transistors on integrated chips will double approximately every two years. The use of glass substrates is expected to further increase the number of transistors in devices to 30 trillion by 2030, while reducing energy consumption (source).
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