IBM develops manufacturing process for 5 nm chip

SEOUL, June 5 (Yonhap) -- U.S. technology giant IBM said Monday that it has developed a groundbreaking transistor manufacturing process for 5 nanometer (nm) semiconductor chips.

In partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. and GlobalFoundries, IBM said it has created the breakthrough process to build the world's first chip that will pack 30 billion 5 nm switches.

The new chip, a follow-up to IBM's 7 nm chip developed in July 2015, will carry 30 billion transistors on a chip the size of a fingernail, the company said. IBM's previous 7 nm chip packed 20 billion transistors.

Based on the increased transistor density, the new 5 nm chip will achieve a performance boost of 40 percent compared with the current-generation 10 nm chips, company officials said.

The most-advanced semiconductor chips at the moment use a FinFET process technology with circuitry that is 10 nm in width.

Last month, Samsung Electronics said it has finalized the development of second-generation 10 nm FinFET, claiming the development will help the firm secure more foundry business partners.

khj@yna.co.kr
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