Globalfoundries and IBM to switch to gate last at 20nm

Posted on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 0:00 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck

David Kanter from Real World Technologies reports GlobalFoundries, IBM and other Common Platform members announced a change to their 20nm strategy:

At the Common Platform tech day, IBM and other Common Platform membres announced that they will be shifting approaches for their high-k/metal gate process technology. The Common Platform members (mostly GF and IBM) had maintained that gate first had density advantages which overshadow the defectivity and performance benefits of gate last.

This always rung a bit hollow to me and did not seem very plausible. The two highest volume logic manufacturers (TSMC and Intel) clearly opted for gate last, which is a pretty strong signal. There were also rumors of Samsung and others pressuring IBM to move to gate last...so the writing has been on the wall for some time. So, while this announcement is news, it's hardly surprisingly in the least.

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Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.

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