Big Blue’s latest research chip demonstrates a route to vertically stacked transistors.
IBM has unveiled a 7-angstrom or A7 research chip that stacks complementary transistors vertically instead of placing them side by side. The firm says the technology could deliver up to 50 percent higher performance, 70 percent lower power consumption and a 40 percent size reduction of SRAM cells compared to its 2-nanometer platform, which was presented five years ago.
By demonstrating a realistic A7 process flow, IBM is showing that conventional CMOS scaling still has room to run. It’s not certain, however, that the approach will ever be applied in production, as other chipmakers are pursuing alternative routes. While Big Blue has long exited leading-edge manufacturing, it continues to develop CMOS, the results of which are available for licensing.
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