IBM debuts sub-1 nanometer chip technology • Hacker News Board

Re: IBM debuts sub-1 nanometer chip technology

#21

Post by applfanboysbgon » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 5:51 PM UTC

mxuribe wrote: post #19

saulpw wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are 3 orders of magnitude between nano (^-9) and pico (^-12). An Angstrom is ^-10m.

Aaahhh, ok, thanks!

You had the right idea. Angstroms are not an SI unit. The SI units jump by three orders of magnitude at this scale: picometer, nanometer, micrometer, millimeter.

(In the same way that meter jumps three orders of magnitude to kilometer[1], or millions to billions to trillions, etc.)

[1] Technically there are intermediate SI units between meter and km but nobody uses them. There are not intermediate SI units between the tiny ones.

Re: IBM debuts sub-1 nanometer chip technology

#22

Post by wmf » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 5:52 PM UTC

applfanboysbgon wrote: post #13

For anyone who needs it, a friendly reminder that CPU nm marketing is a complete fabrication and the physical size of transistors has zero relation to the marketing claims. These are not, in fact, physically sub 1 nm, despite the bombastic claims.

The marketing nm better represent the density and performance of the transistors than the actual feature size, especially in this case.

Re: IBM debuts sub-1 nanometer chip technology

#23

Post by drob518 » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

giwook wrote: post #2

How does IBM commercialize this? Do they license this out to fabs?

I’m sure they will license it. It’s better for them if everyone in the industry can innovate on everything around it. All the process tech companies will make it more cost effective, for instance, which helps IBM as well.

Re: IBM debuts sub-1 nanometer chip technology

#24

Post by porridgeraisin » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

petcat wrote: post #11

> IBM and its partners conduct this work at a leading semiconductor research facility in Albany, New York, which will soon be home to a High Numerical Aperture Extreme Ultraviolet (High NA EUV) lithography tool, essential for the future of logic scaling. Developed by ASML, this technology enables ultra‑precise circuit printing, supporting the creation of smaller, more powerful chips. I'm guessing that this is the tec…

Correct

Re: IBM debuts sub-1 nanometer chip technology

#25

Post by TallGuyShort » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

evanjrowley wrote: post #12

giwook wrote: post #2

How does IBM commercialize this? Do they license this out to fabs?

boost sales for their systems division, POWER CPUs, mainframes, maybe Quantum stuff

I always feel like I'm not quite getting quantum stuff no matter how much I read and learn: what does this advancement have to do with quantum computers?

Re: IBM debuts sub-1 nanometer chip technology

#26

Post by roflmaostc » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

buran77 wrote: post #10

> logic technology can extend for the first time below the 1 nm node, advancing the era of angstrom-level scaling, where dimensions approach the size of individual atoms. While transistor nodes now refer to a generation of manufacturing technology versus an exact physical dimension, IBM’s 0.7 nm technology—also referred to as 7 angstroms—demonstrates how continued scaling remains possible. Continuing the well establi…

yeah, where on the pictures is the 0.7nm feature? The linespacing is around 5nm. Is it the white line which is 0.7nm?

Re: IBM debuts sub-1 nanometer chip technology

#27

Post by scrlk » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

petcat wrote: post #11

> IBM and its partners conduct this work at a leading semiconductor research facility in Albany, New York, which will soon be home to a High Numerical Aperture Extreme Ultraviolet (High NA EUV) lithography tool, essential for the future of logic scaling. Developed by ASML, this technology enables ultra‑precise circuit printing, supporting the creation of smaller, more powerful chips. I'm guessing that this is the tec…

Cymer builds the EUV light source, but the biggest enabler for High NA EUV is using anamorphic optics (ie asymmetric horizontal and vertical magnification) from Zeiss: https://www.asml.com/en/news/stories/2024/5-things-high-na-e...

Re: IBM debuts sub-1 nanometer chip technology

#28

Post by TallGuyShort » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 5:56 PM UTC

mxuribe wrote: post #7

A little bit of a nitpick, but wouldn't that be a picometer instead of angstrom node? Like, isn't a "pico-" the next magnitude smaller than "nano-", or am i wrong? Otherwise, that chip tech sounds really awesome - at least for the future!

1 picometer = 0.001 nanometers, 0.01 angstrom

1 angstrom = 0.1 nanometers, 100 picometers

1 nanometer = 10 angstroms, 1000 picometers

Re: IBM debuts sub-1 nanometer chip technology

#29

Post by lp4v4n » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 5:57 PM UTC

applfanboysbgon wrote: post #13

For anyone who needs it, a friendly reminder that CPU nm marketing is a complete fabrication and the physical size of transistors has zero relation to the marketing claims. These are not, in fact, physically sub 1 nm, despite the bombastic claims.

>These are not, in fact, physically sub 1 nm, despite the bombastic claims.

Why? What's their real size?

Not doubting you, just trying to understand and also trying to assess how exaggerated the marketing is.

Re: IBM debuts sub-1 nanometer chip technology

#30

Post by 1313ed01 » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 5:58 PM UTC

saulpw wrote: post #16

mxuribe wrote: post #7

A little bit of a nitpick, but wouldn't that be a picometer instead of angstrom node? Like, isn't a "pico-" the next magnitude smaller than "nano-", or am i wrong? Otherwise, that chip tech sounds really awesome - at least for the future!

There are 3 orders of magnitude between nano (^-9) and pico (^-12). An Angstrom is ^-10m.

Useless fact I just learned from Wikipedia: Ångström/Angstrom (in Sweden of course we still use the original spelling) has its own UNICODE symbol, Angstrom sign: Å (U+212B) not to confuse with the Swedish letter Å (U+00C5). Looks slightly different in my browser.

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