Computer advance

Press, 18 February 1984, Page 26

Computer advance

NZPA-AFP Washington American researchers have developed a new light-sensitive material which will vastly increase computer memory capacity, the National Science Foundation has announced in Washington. The development — credited to an International Business Machines research laboratory at San Jose, California — was rated a major step toward profitable production of computers with memories capable of storing between 250,000 and 500,000 bytes. American scientific sources

have recently said that three Japanese firms, Hitachi, NEC, and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, had achieved similar laboratory success. The annoucement said the new IBM material would replace the thin light-sensitive polymer film now used for printing circuits on silicon chips. By moving into the ultraviolet range instead of the visible spectrum, much better definition and density of circuits could be obtained, with a geometric increase in memory capacity.