IBM and Lam Research Corp. have announced an expanded research collaboration focused on advancing logic scaling to the sub‑1nm node, underscoring the industry’s push toward next‑generation semiconductor manufacturing. The new five‑year agreement centers on the joint development of advanced materials, fabrication processes, and High Numerical Aperture (High‑NA) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technologies.

Address Challenges of Logic Scaling

The collaboration builds on more than a decade of joint work between the two companies, which has contributed to key inflection points in logic fabrication, including early 7nm technologies, nanosheet transistor architectures, and EUV process integration. Notably, the partnership supported IBM’s unveiling of the world’s first 2nm node chip in 2021.

Under the new agreement, IBM and Lam Research aim to address the growing complexity of device architectures required for continued logic scaling. Research efforts will focus on novel materials, advanced etch and deposition capabilities, and new High‑NA EUV lithography processes to enable next‑generation interconnects, device patterning, and manufacturable sub‑1nm technologies.

“Lam has been a critical partner to IBM for over a decade, contributing to key breakthroughs in logic scaling and device architecture such as nanosheet and the world’s first 2nm node chip,” said Mukesh Khare, General Manager of IBM Semiconductors and Vice President of Hybrid Cloud at IBM Research. “We are thrilled to be expanding our collaboration to tackle the next set of challenges to enable High‑NA EUV lithography and sub‑1nm nodes.”

Enabling Future Logic Nodes

The expanded partnership comes as the semiconductor industry enters an era of 3D scaling. Here, traditional planar approaches are no longer sufficient to deliver performance, power, and density gains.

“As the industry enters a new era of 3D scaling, progress depends on rethinking how materials, processes, and lithography come together as a single, high‑density system,” said Vahid Vahedi, Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer at Lam Research. “We are proud to build on our successful collaboration with IBM to drive High‑NA EUV dry resist and process breakthroughs, accelerating the development of lower‑power and higher‑performance transistors that will be critical for the AI era.”

Joint development work will leverage IBM’s advanced semiconductor research infrastructure at the NY CREATES Albany NanoTech Complex, alongside Lam Research’s end‑to‑end process technologies. These include Aether® dry resist technology, Kiyo® and Akara® etch platforms, Striker® and ALTUS® Halo deposition systems, and advanced packaging solutions.

Together, the companies plan to build and validate full process flows for nanosheet and nanostack devices, as well as backside power delivery architectures. The goal is to reliably transfer High‑NA EUV patterns into functional device layers with high yield, enabling continued logic scaling, improved performance, and viable paths to high‑volume manufacturing.

11 March 2026