IBM Research announced today that it has built the first functional 7-nanometer test chips in collaboration with GlobalFoundries, Samsung and SUNY Polytechnic Institute's Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.
The company ελπίζει ότι οι νέοι processors currently testing will be the beginning of the smallest semiconductors in existence and that new semiconductor technology will continue to shrink the coming products τουλάχιστον για δύο με τρία χρόνια.
To understand the size, an 7nm node is slightly larger than human DNA, which reaches 2,5nm in diameter. Processors today range from 10nm, 14nm and 22nm in size.
IBM with the new generation of chips is expected to deliver new innovations that will feed the company's products. We are talking about Watson supercomputers as well as cloud servers and data centers.
According to IBM, the 7nm test chip was created using silicon germanium (SiGe) transistors and lithography Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV).
IBM plans to invest 3 billions of dollars over five years in the field of chips research and development, so we'll probably see amazing things.
On July 1, IBM closed the agreement to sell Globalfoundries microelectronics, which acquires intellectual property, production capacity and employees.
Globalfoundries, is the former company constructionof AMD, and the largest private semiconductor manufacturer.