Motorola enters copper age

Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector said it has developed a processor manufacturing method that incorporates copper into its chips. The announcement comes on the heels of similar news from IBM's Microelectronics Division in September.

Motorola's Austin, Texas, division said the new process will create smaller and faster chips by replacing aluminum wiring with copper.

The company said the method, which it called a dual-inlaid metalization technique, is the result of a two-and-a-half-year research effort.

The new design will probably first show up in the company's high-end processors - including the PowerPC - and memory-related chips, Motorola said. The first product using the next-generation process is expected in the summer of 1998.