Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/12/10/ibm_32nm_highk/
IBM and Intel love their nanometer wars. One week IBM is straining something first in order to make faster, smaller chips, and the next week Intel has found some forgotten element and placed it at the center of a revolutionary effort. You won't find Big Boys getting excited about shrinkage very often in the real word, but in the chip game, that's how things are done.
This week IBM has tried to one-up Intel through openness. IBM is claiming a level of mastery around 32nm chips that rely on high-k metal gate technology. And IBM has announced plans to share that technology with all its chip friends, including foundry, memory and fabless companies.
Just to bring everyone up to speed, let's look at the 45nm situation.
Intel last month started cranking out processors made on a 45nm process that use the high-k metal gate technology. This makes Intel the first major chipmaker to replace the silicon used to insulate transistor gates with hafnium and a pair of still undisclosed metals. As a result, Intel can produce smaller, more energy-efficient products.
IBM won't start pumping out the hafnium-based parts until next year when its 45nm manufacturing process takes hold. At that point, only IBM and partner AMD will be able to take advantage.
Come 32nm, everything changes.
“Basically, everyone will have access to it,” IBM chip researcher Gary Patton told us.
IBM has a number of processor partnerships in place that cover shared manufacturing efforts as well as IBM serving as a chip producer for smaller companies. And now all of these folks can piggyback on IBM's hard work.
Patton reckons that IBM has firmed up the 32nm high-k technology for both low power chips that will go into mobile devices and for higher performing chips that will slot into servers.
Like Intel, IBM refuses to disclose what metals it uses in conjunction with hafnium to create these new chips. In addition, IBM declines to elaborate on the changes made when moving from 45nm to 32nm. ®
IBM and chums offer wafer-thin 32nm detail (15 April 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/15/ibm_alliance_32nm_chips/
IBM's charming smile attracts Hitachi to 32nm research pact (10 March 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/10/ibm_hitachi_32nm/
Intel fires up 45nm laptop chip assault (8 January 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/01/08/intel_45nm_mobile/
IBM swallows Tel Aviv storage firm (2 January 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/02/ibm_acquires_xiv/
Toshiba borgs into IBM's 32nm alliance (18 December 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/18/chip_alliance_ibm_amd_intel/
VMware clobbers the world, while big, solid disks rise (10 December 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/10/storage_and_servers_2007_in_review/
Intel celebrates 'Penryn' launch (13 November 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/11/13/intel_penryn_launch_event/
Intel jabs bruised AMD with 12 new Xeons and desktop dynamo (11 November 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/11/intel_penryn_xeon/
Intel teaches IBM how to reveal chip breakthroughs (28 January 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/28/intel_ibm_highk/
Intel 45nm CPUs to use metal gates, high-k dielectric (27 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/27/intel_45nm_metal_gates/