Japan's NEC Electronics Corp. and Toshiba Corp. have extended their technology development agreements with IBM Corp. to participate in the development of a 28-nm process with high-k and metal gates.
Toshiba joined IBM's semiconductor process technology development alliance in December 2007 and NEC Electronics joined in September 2008.
Now, NEC Electronics and Toshiba will extend its efforts in IBM's technology alliance to develop a 28-nm bulk complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process technology. The alliance, based at IBM's facility in East Fishkill, New York, now includes Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. Pte., GlobalFoundries, Infineon Technologies, NEC Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, and Toshiba.
"NEC Electronics and Toshiba bring significant skills and resources that will help ensure development of an industry-leading 28-nm technology offering," said Gary Patton, vice president for IBM's Semiconductor Research and Development Center, in a statement. "Together, the alliance partners will deliver a high-performance, energy efficient technology to enable a full range of multifunction, power-sensitive mobile and consumer electronics."
IBM Corp.'s ''fab club'' claims to be on track to introduce high-k/metal-gate technology ahead of all other foundries at the 32-nm node. As reported, it expects to be ready to accept 32-nm designs in the second half of 2009, with the ability to ramp production in first half of 2010.
In April, IBM's ''fab club'' has officially rolled out its 28-nm process based on high-k dielectrics and metal gates. Early ''risk production'' for the 28-nm technology is anticipated in the second half of 2010.
Silicon foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) this week claimed that it has developed the first functional 64-Mbit SRAM cell, based on its 28-nm technology. This development was presented in a paper at the 2009 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits in Kyoto, Japan.
Paving the way for its upcoming 28-nm process, Taiwan foundry provider United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) of Taiwan last year said that it has manufactured functional 28-nm SRAM chips. The technology also supports both high-k/metal-gates and silicon dioxide.
