IBM starts 45 nanometre chip development
 

BIG BLUE has inked a $200 million deal with the Tokyo-based Toppan Printing to jointly build a 45 nanometre chip making process that may be ready for production by mid-2007.
All the research and testing will be done in the US and will be then transferred to Toppan’s own manufacturing plants.>[? The big idea is that the companies will develop a photomask process, which would be used to etch patterns of integrated circuits onto silicon wafers. This will enable early production of advanced 45nm semiconductors.

The technology will shrink the distance between transistors on silicon to 45 nanometers, from 90 nanometres and 65 nanometres, and enable chips to become smaller, or have more transistors.

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