IBM demonstrated technology Monday that improves
performance and reduces power consumption on chips used in devices from mobile
phones to high-performance servers.

The technology, called high-k/metal gate, boosts performance by up to 30 percent
and reduces power consumption by up to 50 percent on chips manufactured using
the 32-nanometer process, IBM said. This compares to chips manufactured using
the 45-nanometer process operating at the similar voltage, according to IBM's
benchmarks.

For example, when a 45-nm process chip operating at 1.1 volts is scaled to
the 32-nm process with high-k metal gate technology it will have a 24 percent
increase in speed and a 40 percent reduction in power consumption, said Mukesh
Khare, senior manager at IBM's microelectronics division. If the voltage is
dropped to 0.95 volts, the chip has an 18 percent increase in speed and a 45
percent reduction in power consumption.

A nanometer equals about one billionth of a meter. In chip manufacturing, the
figure refers to the smallest features etched on chip surfaces. The measurement
was done on circuits and components generally used to benchmark the speed and
performance of a chip, Khare said.

The company is shipping an evaluation kit that includes chip models and shows
customers how to design chips using the high-k/metal gate technology, Khare
said. High-k/metal gate technology uses material to reduce electricity leaks
on chips. IBM said it may incorporate the technology when it starts volume production
of chips using the 32-nm process. IBM has said it plans to start volume production
of chips using the 32-nm process in late 2009.

For computing devices to deliver power savings and performance gains, chip
manufacturers are consistently upgrading manufacturing technologies. Intel last
year started incorporating high-k/metal gate technology when it began manufacturing
chips using the 45-nm process. Intel's
chip rival, Advanced Micro
Devices, does not use high-k metal gate technology in chips.

Monday's announcement was one more step in IBM's efforts to advance semiconductor
technology. The company last month announced an alliance with Hitachi
to jointly research the miniaturization of chip circuitry from 32-nanometer
and 22-nm semiconductor. It is also developing silicon nanophotonics technology,
which could replace some of the wires on a chip with pulses of light on tiny
optical fibers for quicker and more power-efficient data transfers between cores
on a chip. It is also working with U.S. universities to develop carbon nanotubes,
smaller transistors that could deliver better performance than current transistors.

IBM made Monday's announcement with its partners, Chartered
Semiconductor, Freescale
Semiconductor, Infineon
Technologies, Samsung,
STMicroelectronics
and Toshiba. IBM has a
manufacturing partnership with AMD, and although AMD wasn't part of the official
announcement, it will have access to the new technology, Khare said.

IDG News Service

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