IBM and its process technology partners may have found the Holy Grail in their search for a high-k dielectric material which is practical at the 32nm process node and below.
The high-k/metal gate (HKMG) material when used in evaluation circuits registered performance improvements on 32nm technology circuits of up to 35 per cent over 45nm technology circuits at the same operating voltage.
"The 32nm power reduction over 45nm can be as much as 30 to 50 per cent depending on the operating voltage," said IBM.
This is good news for Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. (Chartered), Freescale, Infineon Technologies, Samsung, STMicroelectronics and Toshiba which all work with IBM on future generation process technology developments.
So IBM, Chartered and Samsung will be the first foundries to offer an HKMG technology in the 32nm technology generation.
The key thing is that feasibility tests indicate that the process can be extended to the 22nm node.
Why is the choice of gate material so critical? In a transistor switch, the gate turns the transistor on and off, but a gate dielectric is needed to insulate it from the channel where current is.
So if you get the gate metal and the high-k gate dielectric right you can create a transistor with very low current leakage without affecting performance. That is what IBM thinks it has done.
It was back in January 2007 that IBM first revealed the high-k/metal gate process as the potential breakthrough for the sub-45nm process technology generations.
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