Few Surprises as Intel, GloFo Detail Process Technologies

Dylan McGrath, EETimes
12/7/2017 02:01 AM EST

SAN FRANCISCO — Intel detailed plans to use cobalt for some interconnect layers at 10nm, while Globalfoundries offered specifics on how it will utilize extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography for the first time at the 7nm node in dueling process technology presentations at one of the most hotly anticipated sessions at the IEEE International Electron Device Meeting (IEDM) here.

Intel will use cobalt in on the bottom two layers of its 10nm interconnect to get a five to 10 fold improvement in electromigration and a two-fold reduction in via resistance. It represents the first time a chip maker has detailed plans to introduce cobalt — a brittle metal long considered a promising dielectric candidate — in a process, according to G. Dan Hutecheson, chairman and CEO of VLSI Research.

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