IBM to Join the 32-nm High-K 'Fab Club'

IBM has announced that they have joined AMD, Chartered, Freescale, Infineon and Samsung in their efforts to extend the high-k/metal gate 32-nanometer node. Previously, the same companies have collaborated for achieving the same technology for the 45-nanometer node.

The companies' attempt is part of the response to Intel's being in production of the 45-nanometer processors based on their high-k technology. In order to achieve the 32-nanometer technology, IBM is currently using a so-called "high-k gate-first" process, due to completion in the second half of 2009.

IBM has released this new architecture in January 2007, and was a joint effort of the company and their research partners. That time, Intel was already using their replacement gate tech and IBM's response was to develop a low-power foundry Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology using the 'high-k gate-first' approach. The joint-venture has successfully demonstrated the first 32-nm ultra dense static random access memory (SRAM) to work under low-power conditions, while the cell sizes have been kept under 0.15 microns.

High-K material promises to revolutionize the semiconductors' power consumption, since chips built using high-k are up to 45 percent more energy-saving than the older technology, which is an essential factor when taking into account the mobile world and the battery life.

Moreover, IBM and their research partners pushed the limits beyond and encapsulated the high-k technology in the 32-nanometer silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process, that gives a 30 percent gain in transistor speed when compared to the previous generation of Silicon-Over-Insulator.

"IBM's alliances have demonstrated the 'high-k gate-first' approach in a manufacturing environment, an achievement that provides clients with a simple, scalable pathway to incorporating the high-k material innovation in semiconductor development without introducing additional design complexity", Gary Patton, vice president, IBM's Semiconductor Research and Development Center, said in a statement.