| Copper chips are a new innovation in semiconductor research and were first introduced by the IBM Research Division. This technology is able to expand the capabilities of small circuits like microprocessors and other ICs.
Because copper passes electrical currents more easily than aluminium, copper chips can be smaller in size and still be faster than conventional chips. An additional benefit of the copper technology is the fact that it allows chips to have enormous capacities for holding and transmitting informations.
Aluminum has been the traditional material used in the wires which connect the "switches," or transistors, in silicon chips and is now slowly being replaced by copper. The first copper chips have been in production since early 1999
Although Intel has named one of their processors "Coppermine" it is not based on copper chip technology of any kind.
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