A simple technique for increasing the speed or extending the life of integrated circuits has been developed at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Reuter reports. The technique involves treating the chip with Hydrogen in the final stage of the fabrication process, when it is heated to 400oC. You could increase the lifespan of the chip 10 to 50 times, Joe Lyding, electrical engineer at the University who helped discover the process, said. The tantalizing thing will be to use the trade- off between lifespan and performance to make the chip work even faster. The discovery was that the use of Deuterium increased the chip’s ability to withstand the wear and tear caused by the flow of electrons, so that designers can either go for more reliable chips or wind the power up, drive the electrons faster, and improve the performance, although the researchers have not yet pinned down the extent to which performance can be improved. Deterioration of the chip is caused by electrons knocking off the Hydrogen bonding; using Deuterium minimizes the effect. Another key attraction is that switching to Deuterium adds as little as $1.50 to the $1,000 to $10,000 it costs to do a wafer of chips.
