SAN JOSE, Calif. — IBM Corp. and its technology alliance partners Wednesday (May 23) announced plans to extend their chip development pact to the 32-nm node.
IBM's ''common platform'' partners include foundry vendors Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Pte. Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., along with joint-development alliance partners Infineon Technologies AG and Freescale Semiconductor Inc.
The joint development agreements between these companies will now include 32-nm bulk CMOS process technologies. Previously, the partnership extended down to 45-nm.
The partners plan to pool their combined expertise and collaborate to design, develop and manufacture advanced technology through 2010. As with previous nodes, 32-nm development activities will be conducted at IBM's 300-mm fab in East Fishkill, N.Y.
The five companies will work together to deliver 32-nm processes, based on ultra low-k dielectrics, high-k, metal gates, strained silicon and other technologies. It will develop chips based on a second-generation immersion lithography technology.
IBM will enter into 32-nm ''product qualification by year-end 2009,'' said Steve Longoria, vice president for the common platform technology at IBM. Chartered and Samsung will move into 32-nm production one quarter after IBM, he said.
IBM will move its high-k technology into production at the 45-nm node for processor products, he said. This includes IBM's own processor as well as its PowerPC lines for game machines, he said.
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