Computer World UK: IBM Pushes Chip Technology with Stunning 7 nm
Chip Demonstration
Published:
Monday, July 13, 2015 - 10:25
In the world of CMOS semiconductor process, the fundamental heartbeat that drives the continuing evolution of all the devices and computers we use and governs at a fundamental level the services we can layer on top of them is the continual shrinkage of the transistors we build upon.
We are used to the regular cadence of miniaturization, generally led by Intel, as we progress from one generation to the next. 32nm logic is so old-fashioned, 22nm parts are in volume production across the entire CPU spectrum, 14 nm parts have started to appear, and the rumour mill is active with reports of initial shipments of 10 nm parts in mid-2016.
But there is a collective nervousness about the transition to 7 nm, the next step in the industry process roadmap, with industry leader Intel commenting at the recent 2015 International Solid State Circuit conference that it may have to move away from conventional silicon materials for the transition to 7 nm parts, and that there were many obstacles to mass production beyond the 10 nm threshold.
But there are other players in the game, and some of them are anxious to demonstrate that Intel may not have the commanding lead that many observers assume they have.
In a surprise move that hints at the future of some of its own products and that will certainly galvanize both partners and competitors, IBM, discounted by many as a spent force in the semiconductor world with its recent divestiture of its manufacturing business, has just made a real jaw-dropper of an announcement - the existence of working 7nm semiconductors.
What was announced?
Make no mistake. These are not working commercial parts or even prototypes of them. They are purely experimental parts to demonstrate fundamental process and material innovations. But they are working parts with functional 7nm transistors well before they were expected. The product of a partnership between IBM, Samsung, GlobalFoundaries and SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, these are the semiconductor industry’s first 7 nanometer (nm) node test chips with functional transistors.
