IBM has announced the first application of a self-assembling nanotechnology to conventional chip manufacturing.

The natural pattern-creating process that forms seashells, snowflakes, and enamel on teeth has been harnessed by IBM to form trillions of holes to create insulating vacuums around the miles of nano-scale wires packed next to each other inside each computer chip.

This new form of insulation, commonly referred to as “airgaps” is a misnomer, as the gaps are actually a vacuum, absent of air. The technique deployed by IBM causes a vacuum to form between the copper wires on a computer chip, allowing electrical signals to flow faster, while consuming less electrical power.

The self-assembly process enables the nano-scale patterning required to form the gaps; this patterning is considerably smaller than current lithographic techniques can achieve.

The self-assembly process has been integrated with IBM’s manufacturing line in East Fishkill, New York and is expected to be fully incorporated in IBM"s manufacturing lines and used in chips in 2009. The chips will be used in IBM’s server product lines and thereafter for chips IBM builds for other companies.