Learning from sand castles to build future chips  In the United
States, data centers already consume two percent of the
electricity available, with consumption doubling every five
years. In theory, at this rate, a supercomputer in the year 2050
will require the entire production of the United States' energy
grid.  To address this challenge, IBM scientists are researching
vertically stacked chips, also known as 3D chip stacks. Right
now they are developing innovative manufacturing solutions using
a natural phenomenon that children around the world appreciate
every summer while building sand sculptures—capillary bridging
in wet sand.  Another day at the beach  Water trapped between
sand grains form so-called capillary bridges. They provide the
needed mechanical strength of the sand to create giant works of
art. But for electronic packages, they play a slightly different
role as they support the formation of novel electrical or
thermal interfaces by the self-assembly of nanoparticles.  3D
chip stack design by IB