Intel transistors to use nanoribbon technology within next five years

Speaking at this year's international VLSI conference, Intel CTO Mike Mayberry revealed his company expects to have nanowire/nanoribbon transistors in high-volume production within the next five years. This is a form of a gate-all-around (GAA) transistor, which is the next big step since the introduction of FinFET. The GAA-type design offers space savings as well as power savings at a silicon level. Mayberry did not provide specifics about when Intel plans to adopt nanoribbon transistors, he said he wasn't giving a roadmap talk but he was willing to narrow it down to "within the next five years."

There were a few slides that might be worth covering in a future article, along with a few of the Q&A parts, however it was this question where Dr. Mayberry said a point worth reporting.

Q: Can you give us the timeline for the introduction of nanoribbon/nanowire process technology into high volume production?

A: This is not a roadmap talk, so I'll be vague and say within in the next five years.