Intel Uses Carbon Nanotube Bundles to Form Interconnect Structures for Microprocessor

Intel Corporation (Santa Clara, CA) inventors Florian Gstrein, Valery M. Dubin, Juan E. Dominguez, and Adrien R. Lavoie devised a method for forming an interconnect of single-walled carbon nanotubes on a sacrificial substrate; transferring the interconnect from the sacrificial substrate to a circuit substrate; and coupling the interconnect to a contact point on the circuit substrate. According to United States Patent 7,625,817, the method includes forming a nanotube bundle on a circuit substrate between a first contact point and a second contact point, the nanotube defining a lumen therethrough; filling a portion of a length of the lumen of the nanotube bundle with an electrically conductive material; and coupling the electrically conductive material to the second contact point. The system includes a computing device comprised of a microprocessor, the microprocessor coupled to a printed circuit board, the microprocessor including a substrate with circuit devices with electrical connections made to the circuit devices through interconnect structures including carbon nanotube bundles. Intel holds 109 patents that reference carbon nanotubes and more than 3120 patents reference carbon nanotubes as of December 1, 2009.