The Cupertino, California-based MicroModule Systems Inc management buyout from Digital Equipment Corp (CI No 1,993) has been given a $1.2m US Advanced Research Projects Agency subcontract to build a series of DEC Alpha RISC-based multichip modules using diamond substrates. The subcontract is part of a prime contract awarded to Norton Diamond Film Inc, and calls for a two-year development programme, with an optional third year. The goal is a practical, affordable and manufacturable diamond multichip module capable of handling the thermal management problems of current and next-generation high-power microprocessors, which increasingly exhibit the properties of furnaces and microwave ovens. MicroModule Systems has two tasks under the contract – to develop a high-density copper-polyimide interconnect process on diamond. The manufacturing process developed will then be used to build a functional diamond multichip module with two or more Alpha RISC microprocessors. It is planned that the module will use three-dimensional static RAM packaging for the large cache that will be needed. The thermal properties of diamond are seen to make it an attractive substrate material for chips that get excessively hot, enabling silicon circuits to be packed much more tightly than on other substrates.
