IBM and Samsung have developed the transistors of the future

The era of FinFET transistors is drawing to a close, with the advent of GaaFETs. But even before these new transistors arrive en masse, IBM and Samsung have already prepared the next step with the Vertical Transport Field Effect Transistors or VTFET. Transistors that add a vertical dimension to chip production.

To understand, let’s go back: at the beginning, micro and then nanometric transistors were “planar”, that is to say lying stupidly flat. The fin technology, known as FinFET, popularized by Intel has been the standard for a decade. de facto. A technology which has made it possible to greatly increase the density per mm² and the efficiency of the circuits. And it is above all a reliable technology: even the latest chips from AMD, Apple, Intel or Samsung use this structure while waiting for the Gate-All-Arround or GaaFET and their evolutions, the Nanosheets (Samsung) and other Nanoribbon (Intel) do not replace them.

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Even more efficient both in terms of density and in terms of electricity, GaaFETs are not yet industrialized and should arrive within two years. But like “planar” and “FinFET”, “GaaFET” transistors are designed on two axes. And only circulate the current horizontally.

The third dimension

IBM and Samsung VTFETs bring verticality. If the American and the Korean have been stingy in details, they nevertheless display weighty promises: this new transistor structure would allow, either, to double the performance – but which, frequency or logical density? – or reduce the energy consumption of the chip by 85%. Even if the two semiconductor giants doubled the score – which is not in IBM’s practice – only 50% of energy or power gains would be enormous in a context where for the moment, only the reduction fineness of engraving brings double-digit benefits.

If you’re more used to reading news about TSMC, Samsung, or Intel in chip production news, that’s normal, but incomplete: IBM has long since given up on PC manufacturing and mass chip production ( Power architecture for Apple and Nintendo for example), but the American is nevertheless at the forefront in the field. It was he who produced the first 2 nm chips in history.

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Because IBM remains a champion of fundamental research and R&D. And it is its engineers who support Samsung BM in the industrialization of the 5 nm EUV process.

The announcement of VTFETs is therefore anything but a marketing epiphenomenon. But it remains to be seen how the two giants will succeed in industrializing the process, the most sensitive part for the advent of a technology.