Digital World Tokyo | Father of flash memory plans 3D super processors in two years

Father of flash memory plans 3D super processors in two years

December 5th, 2007

If his plans are successful, the inventor of flash memory is just a few steps away from delivering three-dimensional semiconductors that will give us processing chips running at ten times the speed of current-generation designs.

Fujio Masuoka, CTO of Unisantis Electronics in Japan, has announced a deal [PDF link] to work on his 3D chip designs with Singapore’s Institute of Microelectronics to take advantage of the island nation’s government facilities and specialists.

He hopes that - within two years - the resulting 3D semiconductors will replace flat chip circuits to create processors that are ten times faster than current chips of the same size.

Masuoka, who invented flash memory while at Toshiba, says he intends to pay royalties to the Singapore government while licensing the new super chips to major manufacturers. All of which means we could soon be using CPUs that make current cutting-edge architecture like the Cell look like a horse-drawn cart.

(Crossposted to Tech.co.uk)