New 3D silicon chip stacks circuits on top of each other to boost computing power

Two side by side images, one of a series of horizontal shelves with vertical lines connecting them on the left and one on the right of a dark square with various colored lines on it.

The massive hardware demands of artificial intelligence (AI) applications are stretching the physical and structural limitations of semiconductors. But researchers have engineered a three-dimensional silicon chip that they propose as the solution.

In a new study published May 27 in the journal Nature, scientists found a way to cram more computing power into a chip by stacking silicon circuits in multiple layers in a way that doesn't impact performance.