Partners claim ‘significant’ performance boost
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IBM and its joint development partners – Chartered Semiconductor, Freescale, Infineon, Samsung, STMicroelectronics and Toshiba – have collectively demonstrated significant performance and power consumption advantages using high k/metal gate (HKMG) technology.
According to the partners, ‘significant performance and power improvements’ have been observed in evaluation circuits and test chips on silicon manufactured at IBM’s East Fishkill fab. The alliance claims performance improvements on 32nm technology circuits of up to 35% over 45nm technology circuits at the same operating voltage. The 32nm power reduction over 45nm can be as much as 50%, depending on the operating voltage. In addition, testing on product library test chip and industry standard microprocessor critical paths has shown performance improvements of up to 40% over conventional (Poly/SiON) technology at the same technology dimensions.
“The semiconductor marketplace remains one of the most competitive in the world. Early market introduction, combined with strong product differentiation, is critical to success,” said Dirk Wrister, director of Process Technology at Freescale. “This early design and modelling work indicates that HKMG technology is going to deliver a significant product and performance differentiation. These early results are a significant step in the demonstration of HKMG viability in 32nm technology.”
The Common Platform alliance partners – IBM, Chartered and Samsung – are the first in the original equipment manufacturing (OEM) foundry industry to unveil a HKMG technology in the 32nm technology generation.
Feasibility results from HKMG devices built at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’s Albany NanoTech Complex indicate this process can be extended to 22nm.
