IBM unveils world's first 7nm chip

[MightyJordan]

 

IBM, working with GlobalFoundries, Samsung, SUNY, and various equipment suppliers, has produced the world's first 7nm chip with functional transistors. While it should be stressed that commercial 7nm chips remain at least two years away, this test chip from IBM and its partners is extremely significant for three reasons: it's a working sub-10nm chip (this is pretty significant in itself); it's the first commercially viable sub-10nm FinFET logic chip that uses silicon-germanium as the channel material; and it appears to be the first commercially viable design produced with extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.

 

First, the facts and figures. This is a 7nm test chip, built at the IBM/SUNY (State University of New York) Polytechnic 300mm research facility in Albany, NY. The transistors are of the FinFET variety, with one significant difference over commercialised FinFETs: the channel of the transistor is a silicon-germanium (SiGe) alloy, rather than just silicon. To reach such tiny geometries, self-aligned quadruple patterning (SAQR) and EUV lithography is used.

 

Somewhat extraordinarily, due to incredibly tight stacking (30nm transistor pitch), IBM claims a surface area reduction of "close to 50 percent" over today's 10nm processes. All told, IBM and its partners are targeting "at least a 50 percent power/performance improvement for the next generation of systems"