IBM alliance announces 32nm high-k/metal gate process

[Andreas G]

IBM and its joint development partners, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd., Freescale Inc., Infineon Technologies AG, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., STMicroelectronics N.V. and Toshiba Corporation, have announced that they have together demonstrated significant performance and power consumption advantages over current industry standard manufacturing processes. The key has been a breakthrough material known as high-k/metal gate. Through this advancement, IBM and partners are ready to accept clients that want to make use of the new process.

"These early high-k/metal gate results demonstrate that by working together we can deliver leading-edge technologies that handily surpass others in the industry," said Gary Patton, vice president for IBM's Semiconductor Research and Development Center on behalf of the technology alliance. "Demonstrating this caliber of result in a practical environment means that as our collective client base moves to next-generation technology by using the 'gate-first' approach, they will continue to maintain a significant competitive advantage."

IBM has observed significant performance and power improvements during the evaluation of the new material. This includes performance improvements of up to 35% at the same operating voltage, when comparing the current industry standard of 45nm to the coming 32nm. At the same time, a power reduction of up to 50% has been observed in the same model.

The process has fully compatible ground rules for extending to 28nm, and research at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’s Albany NanoTech Complex have shown that the process can be extended to 22nm. The 32nm process will be operational in late 2008.

"The semiconductor marketplace remains one of the most competitive in the world. Early market introduction combined with strong product differentiation is critical to success," said Dirk Wrister, director of Process Technology at Freescale. "This early design and modeling work indicates that the high-k/metal gate technology is going to deliver a significant product and performance differentiation. These early results are a significant step in the demonstration of high-k/metal gate viability in 32nm technology."