Last month, Intel Foundry announced that the industry’s first high-NA EUV lithography machine was assembled at Intel’s semiconductor technology R&D base in Hillsboro, Oregon. Calibration steps have since begun at Fab D1X to prepare for future production on the technology roadmap.
According to The Elec, ASML currently has an annual production capacity of 5 to 6 high-NA EUV lithography machines. All of this year’s production will be shipped to American chip manufacturers, and Intel has secured most of the high-NA EUV lithography machines to be produced before the first half of next year, largely due to Intel’s early orders. Samsung and SK Hynix will also receive high-NA EUV lithography machines next year, expected in the second half.
The high-NA EUV lithography machine is a high numerical aperture extreme ultraviolet mass production system that can produce over 200 wafers per hour and is used for manufacturing sub-3nm chips. With a numerical aperture of 0.55, it offers greater precision compared to the previous EUV systems equipped with 0.33 numerical aperture lenses, enabling higher resolution patterning for smaller transistor features. Previous reports indicated that the price of a high-NA EUV lithography machine is around $380 million, over double the cost of an EUV ($183 million), and ASML currently has orders for between 10 and 20 units.
Late last year, ASML delivered the first high-NA EUV lithography machine to Intel, a TWINSCAN EXE:5000 system. This technology will play a critical role in the development of advanced chips and the production of next-generation processors. Intel plans to introduce it in their Intel 14A process, expected as early as 2026.
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