CPUs found inside desktop PCs and laptops are 14nm chips or larger, with the next jump being 10nm. Today IBM announced an industry-first process for building 5nm chips.
The new process will be presented in detail at the 2017 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits conference in Japan this week. IBM worked with partners Samsung and Globalfoundries on the new process, which replaces the FinFET architecture with stacks of silicon nanosheets.
IBM worked to perfect nanosheet semiconductor technology for over a decade.
