IBM have claimed a breakthrough in computer processor chip technologies that will provide advanced high-speed chips much sooner than had been expected.

The powerful chips are based on merging “strained silicon” and “hybrid substrate” technologies and could lead to the production of desktop supercomputers and a new generation of powerful hand-held computers within three years.

The breakthrough is based on two separate technologies that enable higher chip speeds with reduced power consumption to be manufactured, with apparently minor modifications, to current manufacturing processes.

Intel is currently exploiting the strained silicon technique in the manufacture of two of its forthcoming processors as it improves electrical efficiency by up to 30%. However, IBM claim to have refined and extended the technique further by using a process that, in effect, leaves a strained silicon layer directly on the insulator, in a process that is similar to - and a little more expensive - than current manufacturing methods. The second technique involves the use of hybrid materials that radically increase electron mobility within the chip substrate.

IBM claim that by combining these two technologies, chips can be produced with up to a 65% improvement in performance over current designs.

It is expected that the merged technology chips will appear in commercial products within three years.

The breakthrough has been hailed as a major coup for IBM, which has been making losses in its chip manufacturing operation as revenues for current generation technology have been under pressure due to slow sales and pressure from competitors.

(SP)