MUNICH, Germany — IBM and the ETH Z¼rich University have agreed to jointly build a laboratory for nanotechnology research. The research activities aim at technologies for the post-CMOS era such as carbon-based materials, nano photonics, spintronics, nanowires and tribology.
While the CMOS era according to the semiconductor industry roadmap will last another ten to fifteen years, the scientists are already now working on a replacement for the venerable transistor. According to IBM, the basic switching element of the future possibly can have a completely different architecture. "Spintronics opens new perspectives," an IBM spokesperson said. "However, we are only in the phase of exploring the fundamental mechanisms. It can take another ten to twenty years until these effects can be used in an industrial scale." Other topics for the researchers in the nanolab include molecular electronics and graphenes, while carbon nanotubes are explored at IBM's Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights.
The nanotech laboratory is an offspring of IBMs famous Z¼rich Research Labs (ZRL) where Wolfgang Gerhard Binning and Heinrich Rohrer developed the scanning tunneling microscope — an achievement for which the duo in 1986 has been awarded the Physics Nobel Award. The new nano lab is also located at the ZRL in R¼schlikon near Z¼rich.
The investment has a volume of $90 million. About one third of the sum will be spent for technical equipment, the ETH announced in a media release. Groundbreaking is scheduled for spring 2009; the research activities will begin in 2011. The lab will have a footprint of 6000 square meters including a 900 square meter clean room. The strategic partnership between IBM and the ETH is planned to endure at least ten years.
With the move, both entities hope to gather scientific insights for novel applications in the realms of information and communication technology, sensors, life sciences and material sciences, the partners said.
