[Digital Today reporter Chi-gyu Hwang] IBM and Lam Research have signed a five-year cooperation agreement to develop semiconductors below 1 nanometer.

The collaboration focuses on developing new materials, innovating manufacturing processes and securing High-NA EUV lithography technology to bring forward IBM’s logic scaling roadmap.

The companies will jointly use IBM research facilities and Lam Research process equipment at IBM’s site within the Albany Nanotech Complex in New York. Lam Research will deploy dry resist technology, etch platforms and deposition systems.

The companies aim to advance High-NA EUV lithography processes and secure capabilities to handle complex device structures through the cooperation.

IBM developed a 2-nanometer chip in 2021 and is working with Japan’s Rapidus to pursue mass production of 2-nanometer products by next year. The companies did not disclose chip manufacturing partners or a commercial production schedule.

Mukesh Khare (무케시 카레), head of IBM’s semiconductor business, said Lam Research had been a key IBM partner for more than 10 years. He said it contributed to major innovations in logic scaling and device architecture, including nanosheets and the world’s first 2-nanometer chip. He said he was pleased to expand cooperation on High-NA EUV lithography and achieving nodes below 1 nanometer.

Lam Research Chief Technology & Sustainability Officer Vahed Vahedi (바히드 바헤디) said that as the industry enters an era of 3D scaling, materials, processes and lithography need to be redesigned into a single high-density system. He said Lam Research would work with IBM to speed development of low-power, high-performance transistors essential to the era of artificial intelligence.