IBM, CEA/Leti to Collaborate

IBM will collaborate with a public research and technology organization in France on research in semiconductor and nanoelectronics technology, the company announced Thursday.

IBM said its five-year agreement with CEA/Leti (the Electronics and Information Technology Laboratory of Grenoble-based research and technology organization CEA) will focus on advanced materials, devices and processes for the development of CMOS technology needed to make microprocessors and integrated circuits at 22 nm and beyond.

Under the agreement, CEA/Leti becomes a research associate of IBM and IBM’s semiconductor Joint Development Alliance ecosystem centered in Albany. CEA/Leti will contribute its expertise in low-power CMOS (such as SOI technologies), e-beam lithography and nanoscale characterization and modelling to the alliance.

“Due to increasing complexity, CMOS technologies can only be developed through global alliances. CEA/Leti chose to partner with IBM since its alliance directly benefits companies with strong industrial activity based in Europe,” said Laurent Malier, general manager of CEA/Leti. “With 22- and 16-nm nodes ahead of us, many challenges remain to be tackled and we are strongly committed to speeding up the advent of the best options for these technologies.”

Research work will be carried out on CEA/Leti’s 300-mm silicon platform in Grenoble, as well as at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the University at Albany, STMicroelectronics’ facility in Crolles, France, and IBM’s 300-mm fab in East Fishkill, N.Y. A team from CEA/Leti will be assigned to work on the program at Albany Nanotech.

For more information, visit: www.ibm.com/chips or www.leti.fr