IBM and Lam Research Partner to Advance Sub-1 nm Semiconductor Manufacturing Over Five Years

Using advanced materials, etch techniques, and High-NA EUV lithography, IBM and Lam Research are expanding their partnership to create sub-1 nm chips.

IBM and Lam Research Corporation inked a five-year partnership to advance logic semiconductor production to the sub-1 nm node. Early generations of 7 nm, nanosheet and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) process technologies were made possible by the two businesses' more than ten years of partnership on logic fabrication methods.

With an emphasis on materials development, advanced etch and deposition techniques and High Numerical Aperture (High-NA) EUV lithography, the new deal expands the partnership. The joint effort will focus on creating new materials and manufacturing capabilities needed for progressively intricate device architectures. High-NA EUV lithography techniques intended to facilitate next-generation interconnect and device patterning and hasten wider industry adoption will also be covered.

According to Mukesh Khare, general manager of IBM Semiconductors and vice president of hybrid cloud at IBM Research, Lam has been a vital partner to IBM for more than ten years, helping to make significant advances in logic scaling and device architecture like nanosheet and the world's first 2 nm node chip, which IBM presented in 2021. They are excited to be extending the partnership to address the upcoming difficulties to enable sub-1 nm nodes and high NA EUV lithography.

The partnership will integrate Lam Research's equipment platforms and process technologies with IBM's research capabilities at the NY Creates Albany NanoTech Complex. These include advanced packaging technologies, Striker and ALTUS Halo deposition platforms, Kiyo and Akara etch systems, and Aether dry resist technology.

The companies state that the teams will use these capabilities to develop and validate complete process flows for backside power delivery and nanosheet and nanostack devices.

Vahid Vahedi, CTO and sustainability officer at Lam Research stated that as the industry moves into a new phase of 3D scaling, advancement depends on reconsidering how materials, processes, and lithography work together as a unified, high-density system. They are pleased to expand on this fruitful partnership with IBM to advance High-NA EUV dry resist and process innovations, hastening the creation of transistors with higher performance and lower power that will be essential for the AI age.