IBM Reveals They Have Made A 7nm Chip

[JustTheTip]

IBM have revealed that they are working on a 7nm chip in conjunction with GlobalFoundries, Samsung and SUNY(State University of New York). The development are set to push Intel in the Process war seeing as this is one of the first times recently that Intel have not been well ahead of they competitors. 

 

The 7nm Chip employs a type of silicone called silicon-germanium (SiGe), this type of silicon allows the transistors to be sub 10nm and still allow of electron mobility, this was previously a problem because regular silicon would not allow enough current through to make an effect. They are still using the standard FinFET transistor which is widely used in the commercial industry at the moment. They are now using UV lasers to etch the channels in the silicon, they are using an Argin Flouride laser which has a wave length of 193nm.

 

The chip is said to have improved performance by 50% and also brought down power consumption by 50%. Although the technology is still in its infancy it is set to look very exciting, the chip is set to released for commercial use in 2017/2018 although the use of EUV lasers to etch the chips is not yet practical. Also with Intel running into  problems with 10nm production at the moment we may see some delays.

 

This has the potential to spice things up the processor market for the next few years and may even spur Intel to get of the arses even more and charge for the metaphorical hills of graphine. IBM may now take the place of AMD as the competition to Intel.

 

Source - 

http://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2015/07/ibm-unveils-industrys-first-7nm-chip-moving-beyond-silicon/

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/09/technology/ibm-announces-computer-chips-more-powerful-than-any-in-existence.html?_r=0

[TheKDub]

Dam.

 

Wonder how much that costs compared to a normal-silicon counterpart.

[blackadder]

I remember reading about this in chemistry years ago glad its more than a research thesis.

[samcool55]

But the chip isn't completely made at 7nm, so it's not a full node but a half node.

If they won't be able to figure out to create a full node at 7nm, the prices of manufacturing will increase a lot.

It's nice that they managed to make it, but as long as the chips aren't full node at 7nm, i won't be cheering...

[nicholician]

Holy Balls. IBM is giving Intel a run for their money!

[samcool55]

Dam.

 

Wonder how much that costs compared to a normal-silicon counterpart.

Costs should be similar, afaik it's very expensive now, but there is room for improvement.

[nicholician]

But the chip isn't completely made at 7nm, so it's not a full node but a half node.

If they won't be able to figure out to create a full node at 7nm, the prices of manufacturing will increase a lot.

It's nice that they managed to make it, but as long as the chips aren't full node at 7nm, i won't be cheering...

 

Still quite impressive for a company whose primary focus isn't processing chips.

[samcool55]

Still quite impressive for a company whose primary focus isn't processing chips.

True it isn't their primary focus, but it's still a big thing for IBM.

I mean they had (i think they stopped with it) cpu's that were like 300w 4.5Ghz 8-core cpu's back in the day or something sick like that.

Of course for companies only, and not designed for consumers

 

edit: quick google search later and found this

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/hardware/795/browse.html

So they still make sick cpu's like that

 

edit 2: The power8 series is the latest known series from them, power9 cpu's are announced, but there is very little information known, only thing i can find is that in 2017 a supercomputer should be finished with power9 cpu's in them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POWER8

[Ryoutarou97]

But the chip isn't completely made at 7nm, so it's not a full node but a half node.

If they won't be able to figure out to create a full node at 7nm, the prices of manufacturing will increase a lot.

It's nice that they managed to make it, but as long as the chips aren't full node at 7nm, i won't be cheering...

Would you mind explaining in more depth what that means? It sounds interesting.

[samcool55]

Would you mind explaining in more depth what that means? It sounds interesting.

I'm not an expert and i don't completely understand exacly what it is but what it means afaik is that only a part of the complete cpu is made with 7nm stuff, and the rest of it is something else, for example 16nm or whatever they choose. The reason why it makes them expensive is becasue they need to go through the complete 7nm cycle, but also the complete 16nm cycle, which increases costs and time, because the 7nm cycle can't take care of eveything. Until now they always managed to create a complete cpu with only 1 nm cycle, so always full-node. And also getting 2 different nm things on 1 chip working isn't easy.

 

Long story short: if they stick with half-node because they can't make it full-node, it will take more time and money to finish a chip.

[Ryoutarou97]

I'm not an expert and i don't completely understand exacly what it is but what it means afaik is that only a part of the complete cpu is made with 7nm stuff, and the rest of it is something else, for example 16nm or whatever they choose. The reason why it makes them expensive is becasue they need to go through the complete 7nm cycle, but also the complete 16nm cycle, which increases costs and time, because the 7nm cycle can't take care of eveything. Until now they always managed to create a complete cpu with only 1 nm cycle, so always full-node. And also getting 2 different nm things on 1 chip working isn't easy.

 

Long story short: if they stick with half-node because they can't make it full-node, it will take more time and money to finish a chip.

Oh, alright, thanks, that makes sense.

[nicholician]

Actually, they have made chips up to this day as a primary focus.  They just don't make the common consumer ones.  Theirs are meant for servers+quantum computing.

 

True say.

[hak4fun]

IBM have revealed that they are working on a 7nm chip in conjunction with GlobalFoundries, Samsung and SUNY(State University of New York). The development are set to push Intel in the Process war seeing as this is one of the first times recently that Intel have not been well ahead of they competitors. 

 

The 7nm Chip employs a type of silicone called silicon-germanium (SiGe), this type of silicon allows the transistors to be sub 10nm and still allow of electron mobility, this was previously a problem because regular silicon would not allow enough current through to make an effect. They are still using the standard FinFET transistor which is widely used in the commercial industry at the moment. They are now using UV lasers to etch the channels in the silicon, they are using an Argin Flouride laser which has a wave length of 193nm.

 

The chip is said to have improved performance by 50% and also brought down power consumption by 50%. Although the technology is still in its infancy it is set to look very exciting, the chip is set to released for commercial use in 2017/2018 although the use of EUV lasers to etch the chips is not yet practical. Also with Intel running into  problems with 10nm production at the moment we may see some delays.

 

This has the potential to spice things up the processor market for the next few years and may even spur Intel to get of the arses even more and charge for the metaphorical hills of graphine. IBM may now take the place of AMD as the competition to Intel.

 

Source - 

http://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2015/07/ibm-unveils-industrys-first-7nm-chip-moving-beyond-silicon/

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/09/technology/ibm-announces-computer-chips-more-powerful-than-any-in-existence.html?_r=0

Hey, I didn't think SUNY was much more then a party school. or that is what cortaca and the endless college partying in cortland makes it seem.

 

 

I wonder if the layoffs that intel recently had has anything to do with this... Maybe preparing to compete?

[hak4fun]

True it isn't their primary focus, but it's still a big thing for IBM.

I mean they had (i think they stopped with it) cpu's that were like 300w 4.5Ghz 8-core cpu's back in the day or something sick like that.

Of course for companies only, and not designed for consumers

 

edit: quick google search later and found this

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/hardware/795/browse.html

So they still make sick cpu's like that

 

edit 2: The power8 series is the latest known series from them, power9 cpu's are announced, but there is very little information known, only thing i can find is that in 2017 a supercomputer should be finished with power9 cpu's in them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POWER8

Yea, IBM does alot of CPUs just for gigantic billion dollar super computers and not for consumers. 

[Sauron]

Holy Balls. IBM is giving Intel a run for their money!

 

Unfortunately they can't make x86 cpus, meaning they are cut out of the desktop market for the time being.

[hak4fun]

Unfortunately they can't make x86 cpus, meaning they are cut out of the desktop market for the time being.

Wait, why couldn't they make x86?

[s3ns3]

Wait, why couldn't they make x86?

x86 is owned by intel and only licensed to amd atm. or something like that

[Bouzoo]

Sadly this is a repost: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/403500-ibm-unveils-world%E2%80%99s-first-7nm-chip-prototype/
 

[hak4fun]

x86 is owned by intel and only licensed to amd atm. or something like that

I never knew X86 was owned by intel... if intel owns x86 why wouldn't they kick AMD out as soon as possible? get rid of all competition.

[nicholician]

Unfortunately they can't make x86 cpus, meaning they are cut out of the desktop market for the time being.

 

Well that's unfortunate. And given that Intel owns x86, they aren't really going to license it to a company who's advancing faster than them.

[Paralectic]

Dam.

 

Wonder how much that costs compared to a normal-silicon counterpart.

R&D or manufacturing costs?

[Paralectic]

I never knew X86 was owned by intel... if intel owns x86 why wouldn't they kick AMD out as soon as possible? get rid of all competition.

Because monopoly positions are unhealthy.

[hak4fun]

Because monopoly positions are unhealthy.

How is a monopoly bad for the company? People need cpus, intel is the only who sells consumer CPUs. They could charge anything they wanted, and progress as much as they wanted per year without much of issue. As long as they don't tick of the customers that is.

[Paralectic]

How is a monopoly bad for the company? People need cpus, intel is the only who sells consumer CPUs. They could charge anything they wanted, and progress as much as they wanted per year without much of issue. As long as they don't tick of the customers that is.

It's unhealthy for the consumer.

[hak4fun]

It's unhealthy for the consumer.

Well yea. But what does intel care about the consumer? As long as there selling product then.... And a monopoly would force people to buy there product. Unless everyone says "Hey intel is a being a douchebag, lets do something about it" and they change the whole industry and making lets say ARM the new norm.