Nvidia Corp. on Wednesday signed a three-year research collaboration agreement with Imec, a leading semiconductor researcher, on advanced CMOS scaling. By joining Imec’s core CMOS program as "insite" member, Nvidia will get early insight in the impact of future process and design technology options on its next-generation products, which will help the company to make critical business decisions rapidly and correctly.

“Our advanced CMOS scaling offering for the product design community in IDMs, fabless, fablite, and system-design companies is gaining a lot of interest. We are excited to welcome Nvidia as a valuable partner in our technology-design ecosystem. This collaboration once again confirms that our offering helps companies anticipate new technologies, so that they may design more advanced systems and applications, and put them on the market faster," said Luc Van den hove, president and chief executive of Imec.

Imec "Insite" makes information from imec’s advanced CMOS technology research programs available in formats that can be used by product designers for early assessment of the impact and potential of those technologies for product roadmaps. Imec’s solution allows for early feedback towards technology specification, early decisions on required architectural design changes, and faster learning cycles for technology adoption with reduced risks. And, vice versa, the program allows Imec to derive specifications for next-generation technologies from future system requirements.

The collaboration between Nvidia, Imec and other companies focuses on the system design impact of advanced devices, interconnect, including triple-gate/tri-gate transistors, and lithography implications for the sub-20nm node.

“As Nvidia continues to expand in markets ranging from super phones to supercomputers, we have accelerated the pace of innovation. By working closely with the world-renowned research team at Imec, we can develop advanced foundry techniques that deliver state-of-the-art solutions to our customers faster;” said John Chen, vice president of technology at Nvidia.

Tags: Nvidia, IMEC, 20nm, Tri-Gate, Triple-Gate, Semiconductor