Intel, which is building NA EUV lithography equipment in its foundry, stands at the forefront of the expansion of Moore's Law and is accelerating the transition to the Angstrom Era.

Intel Foundry announced on the 19th that it has completed the assembly of the industry's first High NA EUV lithography equipment located in the Hillsboro R&D area in Oregon.

It has been reported that ASML’s High NA EUV equipment, the TwinScan EXE:5000, is undergoing several calibration stages to be prepared for use in Intel’s advanced process roadmap development.

The latest EUV equipment is known to be capable of dramatically improving the resolution and functionality of next-generation processors through changes in optical design for projecting printed images onto silicon wafers.

Mark Phillips, Intel’s Director, stated, “With the addition of High NA EUV, Intel now possesses the most versatile lithography equipment in the industry and has the capability to drive future processes beyond Intel 18A after 2025.”

Intel Foundry runs at full specifications As a preliminary step, the equipment's optical devices, sensors, and stage were roughly calibrated and then the image was transferred. ASML technology, capable of printing circuits with 10 nm integration using a full-field optical exposure system, is a key element for the commercialization of high NA EUV equipment.

High NA EUV is expected to be able to transfer up to 1.7 times finer than existing EUV equipment, enabling the expansion of 2D capabilities and improving integration density by 2.9 times. Intel is focusing its capabilities on patterning chips that are finer and more integrated.

Compared to 0.33NA EUV, High NA EUV (or 0.55NA EUV) provides higher imaging contrast with less light per exposure for similar functions, reducing the time required to print each layer. A reduction in printing time means higher wafer production volume for the fab.

Intel is expected to use both 0.33NA EUV and 0.55NA EUV along with other lithography processes when developing and manufacturing advanced chips, starting with Intel 18A product verification in 2025 and leading up to Intel 14A production.

Creating ultrafine transistors requires new transistor structures and improvements to other process steps. Intel stated that it is improving other process steps currently under development in parallel with the integration of the first High NA EUV system.

The Intel Foundry Oregon R&D site is a core department for Intel's technology and R&D, and to introduce this latest generation of lithography equipment, Intel invested more than $3 billion to expand the D1X fab in Oregon, adding 270,000 square feet of cleanroom space and opening Mod 3 in 2022.