Scientists at IBM say they have figured out how to produce smaller and more powerful microchips than previously thought possible. It is hoped IBM's announcement at San Jose on Monday will mean the creation of miniscule microprocessors which will save the IT manufacturing sector billions of dollars.

The breakthrough revolves around the distance between the circuit-lines chip makers must 'draw' onto the surface of a computer processor. IBM scientists declared they can now draw lines on silicon much closer together than ever before.

Current techniques are not expected to work on chips smaller than 32nm, although the IBM Research staff have created structures on a processor measuring 29.9nm, using a form of deep-ultraviolet (DUV) optical lithography. The 29.9nm lines and spaces were created on a lithography test apparatus designed and built at IBM Almaden, using new materials developed by its collaborator, JSR Micro.

Optical lithography has been in use for some time and it was thought it would need to be abandoned in the coming years; however, this development means the process needn't be phased out just yet. The IBM announcement also gives the industry time to come up with new manufacturing processes for increasingly smaller chips.

The first technical details of the 29.9nm circuit will be presented this week at the SPIE Microlithography 2006 conference in San Jose.