The most advanced manufacturers of computer processors are in the middle of the first big change in device architecture in a decade—the shift from finFETs to nanosheets. Another 10 years should bring about another fundamental change, where nanosheet devices are stacked atop each other to form complementary FETs (CFETs), capable of cutting the size of […]
There was a time, decades really, when all it took to make a better computer chip were smaller transistors and narrower interconnects. That time’s long gone now, and although transistors will continue to get a bit smaller, simply making them so is no longer the point. The only way to keep up the exponential pace […]
Perhaps the most far-reaching technological achievement over the last 50 years has been the steady march toward ever smaller transistors, fitting them more tightly together, and reducing their power consumption. And yet, ever since the two of us started our careers at Intel more than 20 years ago, we’ve been hearing the alarms that the […]
Intel has chosen to expand its advanced manufacturing in a U.S. state neither the company nor any other chipmaker has a presence in, Ohio. Intel announced today that it will build two leading edge logic fabs east of Columbus at a cost of $20 billion. Construction is set to start in 2022 and production should […]
IBM has become the first in the world to introduce a 2-nanometer (nm) node chip. IBM claims this new chip will improve performance by 45 percent using the same amount of power, or use 75 percent less energy while maintaining the same performance level, as today’s 7 nm-based chips. To give some sense of scale, with 2-nm […]
The logic chip industry is heading toward a fundamental change in the structure of transistors. Today’s transistors, called FinFETs, will give way to devices variously called nanosheet transistors, multibridge channel FETs, and gate-all-around transistors. Apart from the drive to make transistors that are both better performing and smaller, nanosheets add a degree of freedom to […]