IBM today announced innovative new chip-making technology for power-management semiconductors – the company’s first foray into a segment seen as critical to the development of alternative energy sources, smart buildings and new consumer devices. IBM’s process integrates wireless communications into a single power-management chip, a first that can cut production costs (about 20%) to allow chip designers and manufacturers to create a new class of semiconductors – ultra-small and affordable chips that control power usage while they communicate in real-time with systems used to monitor “smart” buildings, energy grids and transportation systems. The main function of power-management chips is to optimize power usage and serve as bridges so electricity can flow uninterrupted among systems and electronics that require varying levels of current. They are key components used in solar panels, for example, and widely used in all industrial segments – automobiles, consumer electronics (digital televisions) and mobile communications (mobile phones). By using the same chip-making process employed in computers and smart phones, CMOS-7HV can lower the costs of producing these chips while at the same time allowing for the integration of an unprecedented number of new functions – resulting in one chip where previously three or four were needed. Such advancements are critical to the rollout of smart systems where the ubiquity of cheap, single-chip sensors depends on affordable manufacturing technology. Read More
