The 28-nm technology is being defined and co-developed by IBM's common platform partners, including IBM, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Pte. Ltd., GlobalFoundries, Infineon Technologies AG, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and STMicroelectronics Inc.

The 28-nm process, which has been widely anticipated, is said to provide a seamless migration path from the group's 32-nm technology. Rolled out last year, the club's 32-nm process is based on a ''gate-first'' high-k and metal-gate technology for use in low-power and related applications. High-k and metal gates are key building blocks for scaling and enabling the next-generation transistor.

The group's 32- and 28-nm processes are somewhat similar, although 28-nm is a scaled down version. The first derivative for both 32- and 28-nm will be a low-power process. Both support 7-to-9 metal layers, 30-nm gate lengths, copper-interconnects, ultra low-k, and, of course, a ''gate-first'' high-k and metal gate scheme. It also makes use of 193-nm immersion lithography.

Others are also moving full speed ahead in high-k. Since the 45-nm node, Intel Corp. has shipped processors based on the technology. On the foundry front, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) are also racing to implement high-k and metal gates in their respective 28-nm processes.

Unlike IBM's common platform, TSMC does not plan to deploy high-k and metal gates for the 32-nm node; instead, the Taiwan foundry giant will implement the technology at 28-nm, which is slated for the first part of 2010.

Gary Patton, vice president for IBM's Semiconductor Research and Development Center, dropped hints that the company is ahead in the high-k foundry race. IBM's high-k and metal gate technology for 32-nm is still on track and slated for the second half of this year, Patton said.

With little or no fanfare, Patton said the group's 28-nm, low-power technology evaluation kit was made available in December of 2008 to early access clients, followed by release in March of 2009 of an evaluation kit for open access to the general marketplace. Early ''risk production'' for the 28-nm technology is anticipated in the second half of 2010.

So far, the reception for IBM's high-k/metal-gate technology has been overwhelming. ''It's progressed very, very well,'' he said. ''The first three (multi-project wafer) shuttle programs were sold out.''

Like TSMC and UMC, IBM and its foundry partners will give customers the option to develop designs based on any number of nodes. Foundry customers must carefully look at the various trade-offs, including cost.

A design with high-k makes sense in some but not all applications. Generally, though, the migration towards finer geometries is slowing due to soaring IC design, photomask and production costs.