ASML Holding N.V., or ASML, and Intel Corporation announced their plans to advance semiconductor lithography technology with the purchase of ASML’s TWINSCAN EXE:5200 system, an extreme ultraviolet high-volume production system with a high numerical aperture capable of producing more than 200 wafers per hour. Both firms have a long history of collaboration, and they stand to benefit from their long-term high numerical aperture framework, which will begin in 2025.
During Intel’s Accelerated event in July, the firm announced that it expects to provide the first High-NA technology to advance its transistor innovation objectives. When Intel was the first to purchase the prior TWINSCAN EXE:5000 system in 2018, the firm continued to exhibit interest in High-NA technology. Intel continues to push forward with its High-NA EUV manufacturing, which will begin in 2025, thanks to a recent purchase from a collaborating business, ASML.
Intel’s vision and early commitment to ASML’s High-NA EUV technology is proof of its relentless pursuit of Moore’s Law. Compared to the current EUV systems, our innovative extended EUV roadmap delivers continued lithographic improvements at reduced complexity, cost, cycle time, and energy that the chip industry needs to drive affordable scaling well into the next decade.
— Martin van den Brink, ASML President, and Chief Technical Officer
ASML’s EXE medium is a step ahead in EUV technology, with a new optics design and extremely fast reticle and wafer stages. The 0.55 numerical aperture lens on the TWINSCAN EXE:5000 and EXE:5200 systems provides an accuracy gain over prior EUV machines with a 0.33 numerical aperture lens, allowing higher-resolution patterning for increasingly shorter transistor elements. The system’s numerical aperture, together with the wavelength used, determines the smallest printed property.
Intel’s focus is to stay at the forefront of semiconductor lithography technology and we’ve been building our EUV expertise and capacity over the last year. Working closely with ASML, we will harness High-NA EUV’s high-resolution patterning as one of the ways we continue Moore’s Law and maintain our strong history of progression down to the smallest of geometries.
— Dr. Ann Kelleher, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Technology Development, Intel Corporation
EUV 0.55 NA has been created to enable a wide range of future nodes, with the industry’s first deployment set for 2025, followed by memory technologies of similar viscosity. ASML shared their EUV route during the 2021 Investor Day, revealing that High-NA technology is expected to support industrial manufacturing starting in 2025. The two corporations’ plans are in sync in today’s statement.
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