Qimonda, Siltronic team on next-gen transistors

The research activities are part of the SIGMADT research project funded by the German federal research ministry with about $10.2 million. With the funding, the ministry intends to strengthen the Saxonian semiconductor industry area around Dresden and Freiberg, where Wacker Chemie AG subsidiary Siltronic runs a wafer production.

For the semiconductor generation after the next one, it becomes evident that three-dimensional transistors replace today's 2D architectures, a Qimonda spokesperson explained. "These architectures are not entirely new; they have been introduced at the IEDM in 2005 and 2007," she said. Besides smaller geometries, these transistors also use less power and sport higher switching frequencies.

The cooperation with Siltronic aims at finding the set of physical wafer properties that matches best the requirements of 3D transistor manufacturing, a Siltronic spokesperson said. In addition, the research aims at developing manufacturing processes for the wafers to be used to produce 3D transistors. According to Siltronic, this kind of production requires extremely planar and smooth wafer surfaces.

The research project is scheduled to take about two years.

- Christoph Hammerschmidt
EE Times Europe