IBM gets down to 7 nm thanks to graphene

[Blexfraptor]

Currently the smallest lithography available is the 7 nm TSMC for the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR with the Apple A12 Bionic. In 2019 Samsung will be added, and AMD will launch the first processors and 7 nm graphics cards. However, IBM is starting to see the results of its investment beyond 7 nm, and has achieved an interesting innovation related to graphene.

The "7 nm and beyond" initiative continues to bear fruit
Four years ago, IBM announced that it would invest 3,000 million dollars over a period of 5 years to investigate the future of nanoelectronics under the "Beyond 7 nm" project. And, although some manufacturers know more or less where they are going to shoot to create lithographs of 5 and even 3 nm, there are many doubts about what will happen next.

However, IBM researchers have published research in which they have managed to apply electricity to graphene to help deposit the nanomaterials on the substrate with 97% accuracy. Michael Engel, head of development at IBM Brazil, explained that this process can lead to the creation of a hybrid system that combines different techniques to develop electronics over lithography.

In the demonstration, they cultivated graphene on silicon carbide, then peeled the graphene and put it on a silicon oxide wafer. This is the most logical material for semiconductors, and it is the one used now, but Engel says it could also be made with copper.

Later, it was defined where the graphene was going to be placed and an electric field of alternating current is applied to the graphene layers while depositing the nanomaterials in the upper part. The nanomaterial creeps down and becomes trapped between the opposing graphene electrodes. With this, graphene defines the location and orientation of the electric field so that the nanomaterial is deposited. In the fourth step, the graphene deposition electrodes are discarded, and finally final steps are taken to integrate the final electronic devices.

Main problem of this system: its large-scale implementation

Until now, the best available technology used metal electrodes, which are difficult to remove and limit the performance and potential integration of the final device when leaving grooves. This is one of the great improvements introduced by graphene, which allows to dispose the nanomaterials without residues, and limit the exposure to chemicals in the final device. With this system also achieves a greater precision at the time of placing the nanomaterials, so that the door is opened to lower nanometers.

This process, although hopeful, will not be an immediate solution to the impossibility of continuing with Moore's Law at present. The main problem they face at the moment is to use it on an industrial scale. First, it is necessary to standardize the solutions of nanomaterials to achieve consistent and repeatable results, in addition to adapting the use of the electric field method.