Scientists at the University of Rochester in New York have created what they claim to be the first, true 3D processor, and have said it's running at 1.4GHz.
Unlike past attempts at 3D processors, which were simply a number of processors stacked on top of one another, the 'Rochester Cube', as it is known, was designed from the ground up to optimise all key-processing functions vertically, in the same way as ordinary chips optimise functions horizontally.
So, while there are other 3D chips, this design is supposedly the first to integrate each layer in a seamless and efficient way.
Eby Friedman, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Rochester, said that many in the integrated-circuit industry are predicting that miniaturisation will reach its limit, at which point it will be impossible to pack more chips next to each other, and the capabilities of future processors will thus be hindered.
The solution may be to expand into the third dimension, stacking transistors on top of each other.
Vertical expansion will not come without its difficulties, however.
The key, according to Friedman, is to design a 3D chip where the multiple layers interact as if they were one.
He equated it to designing a traffic system for the entire US and then layering two more USs above the first and somehow getting any bit of traffic from any level to its destination on another level, while still co-ordinating the traffic of millions of other drivers.
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"Complicate that by changing the two US layers to something like China and India, where the driving laws and roads are quite different," he added, "and the complexity and challenge of designing a single control system to work in any chip begins to become apparent."
According to Friedman, "This is the way computing is going to have to be done in the future. When the chips are flush against each other, they can do things you could never do with a regular 2D chip."
Friedman said the 3D chip is essentially an entire circuit board folded up into a tiny package. So the chips inside something like an iPod could be compacted to a tenth of their current size, with 10 times the speed.
