Wirt wrote last week (sorry so late with the follow-up; I was
out of town) that Intel engineers have developed a memory chip
where bits can have 4 states instead of the usual two.

IBM scientists, not to be left out, have announced their own
breakthrough--using copper instead of aluminum in chip design.

   <http://biz.yahoo.com/finance/97/09/21/ibm_intc_1.html>

An excerpt:

   Analysts who have reviewed the technology, which IBM was expected to
   unveil on Monday, said it would give IBM a critical lead in chip
   development, where engineers have been approaching the performance
   limits of aluminum.

The article goes on to say that IBM first will pursue using the
technology in microprocessor (read: PowerPC) design; using it in
memory will come later.

Ain't competition grand?

--Glenn Cole
  Software al dente, Inc.
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