IBM and Chartered Extend Technology Development Agreement to 45 Nanometer
IBM and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing today announced they have signed an extension to their existing technology agreement, formally expanding their joint development efforts to 45-nanometer (nm) bulk CMOS process technology. Upon the completion of the development, the two companies will have created a common process platform spanning three major generations of advanced process technology.
The 45nm alliance builds on the multi-year agreement that the two companies signed in November 2002 to jointly develop and align on 90nm and 65nm logic processes for process-exact foundry chip production on 300-millimeter (mm) silicon wafers. It extends the development relationship through June 2008. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
"The original agreement between IBM and Chartered provides a broad foundry base for leading-edge technologies to help customers improve their time to market, reduce costs and increase their overall competitiveness," said Dr. Douglas Grose, General Manager, Technology Development and Manufacturing, IBM. "The extension of the joint development to 45nm reflects the confidence we have in Chartered's expertise as evidenced in the current development program and readiness of Fab 7 to support our mutual customers."
"As we broaden and deepen our joint development relationship with IBM for leading-edge process technology, we provide our customers with a roadmap that is positioned to keep them competitive through a common process platform that scales to 45nm design. We are confident that the combined depth of technical expertise and the proven business model the IBM-Chartered relationship offers will translate into an even more attractive long-term solution for many customers," said Dr. Shi-Chung "SC" Sun, senior vice president of technology development at Chartered. "Under the original agreement, IBM and Chartered have demonstrated the benefits that customers can derive from the technology and the collaborative business model. We are now poised to scale the relationship to the cutting edge of technology development."
As with the previous nodes, the development activities will be conducted at the IBM East Fishkill facility. Each company will have the ability to implement the jointly developed and copy-exact processes in its own manufacturing facilities, providing customers with a seamless multi-foundry strategy.
