IBM knows how to go even further than 7nm process technology

Oct 12, 2015 08:42 GMT  ·  By

IBM is leading Moore's law charge in developing smaller and smaller transistors, way ahead of any other foundries, being the first fab to break through the 10nm process technology limit, and build the 7nm germanium wafer instead of using silicon. Now, IBM believes that 1.8nm are within reach thanks to carbon nanotubes.

IBM has recently announced that it has developed a new way of developing smaller transistors via carbon nanotubes that are to replace the classical silicon transistors. Apparently, IBM believes that the carbon nanotubes will be replacing silicon transistor more quickly than previously expected.

Although the new transistor contacts are shrinking, the performance of carbon nanotubes devices has not altered, which means that, this way, faster, smaller and more powerful devices can be obtained. Until now, nanotube shrinking has increased contact resistance, negating any sort of performance gains. However, the new nanotubes based on carbon overcame contact resistance that hindered performance, leading the new shrinking possibilities all the way to 1.8nm nodes, meaning that the new tech paves the way up to four technology generations away.

IBM can reach 1.8nm in size thanks to "microscopic welding"

Dario Gil, vice president of Science and Technology, has said that “For any advanced transistor technology, the increase in contact resistance due to the decrease in the size of transistors becomes a major performance bottleneck."

According to Science Mag, all the IBM researchers had to do was find a way to make the contact from the end of the carbon nanotube in a way that does not degrade performance. Carbon nanotubes transistors were also involved in the lithography of dies smaller than 10nm and can operate excellent switches at channel dimensions of that size.

In order to fix the commensurate drop in performance, IBM scientists developed a sort of microscopic welding that bonded atoms chemically at the ends of the nanotubes. Using this scheme called "end-bonded contact scheme," process technologies that go beyond 10 and 7nm in size are now possible, with the first sub-7nm dies to come in the next couple of years.