# Beyond silicon: IBM reveals world's first 7nm processor



## TechSocial (Dec 20, 2011)

How far can we push Moores Law? Its starting to become a concerning question as processors push into almost infinitesimally small process nodes.

Intels 14-nanometer Broadwell chips suffered from lengthy delays, stuttering Intels vaunted tick-tock manufacturing schedule. TSMC, the company that manufactures graphics processors for AMD and Nvidia, has been stuck at the 28nm node for years now. Intel plans to push into 10nm in 2017, but IBMs looking beyond that, and just revealed the worlds first working 7nm processorbut it took some pretty exotic manufacturing to get there.

Creating a working 7nm chip required moving past pure silicon, IBM revealed. IBMworking with GlobalFoundries, Samsung, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, and otherscarved the transistor channels out of silicon-germanium (SiGe) alloy in order to improve electron mobility at such a small scale. Intel has also said 10nm will be last gasp for pure silicon chips.

IBM and co. had to turn to cutting-edge lithography techniques to etch features onto the chip. The companies utilized extreme ultraviolet lithography, which Intel has also been investing heavily in for years now. The details behind EUV get complicated, but essentially, its a beam of light with a far narrower wavelength (read: width) than current lithography tools. The benefits of moving to a smaller feature-etching tool when working on a chip with 7nm components is obvious.

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