Samsung, together with IBM, achieved a breakthrough in semiconductor chip design. The two tech giants claimed to have developed a new technique offering high performance or improved power efficiency by stacking transistors vertically. The announcement was made during the IEDM conference in San Francisco, USA.
The new technology is called VTFET (Vertical Transport Field Effect Transistors). In the new design, the transistors sit perpendicularly to the silicon surface and the current flows vertically. This makes them bypass Moore’s Law performance limitations or help to save energy due to lower power consumption. Now the semiconductor chip lies flat on the surface, with current flowing side-by-side.
The new chip design technology will offer twice the performance or 85% improved power efficiency as compared to FinFET design. The companies also highlighted that certain energy-intensive tasks like crypto-mining could be done power-efficiently leading to less environmental impact.
Samsung and IBM haven’t announced when they will commercialize VTFET; however, Intel is planning to bring such chips under the name ‘Intel 20A’ by the end of 2024.
