A $400 million machine ships to Intel today kicking off a new era of powerful chips،
One of the most important tools used by foundries for manufacturing advanced chips is the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine. With billions of transistors inside these small components (there are 19 billion transistors inside each A17 Pro SoC used in the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max), the circuit patterns etched onto the silicon wafer that is ultimately cut into individual chips must be ridiculously thin. And that’s where the EUV machine comes in.
Dutch company ASML is the only company manufacturing EUV machines. About the same size as a school bus, each machine costs $150 million. ASML was expected to ship 60 EUV machines this year. And today, according to Tom's Hardware, the company has shipped the first second-generation EUV machine known as the EUV High-NA machine. The first shipment is to Intel which will use it for its 1.8nm 18A (18 angstrom) process node which is expected to start mass production in 2025.
In 2025, when TSMC and Samsung Foundry are expected to begin mass production in 2nm, Intel's 1.8nm node will give it process leadership in the industry. Intel is reportedly spending between $300 million and $400 million for the High-NA EUV machine. An ASML spokesperson said today: “We are shipping the first High NA system and announced it today in a social media post. It will be aimed at Intel as planned and announced earlier. »
ASML expected to ship 60 EUV machines this year
As we told you two years ago, High-NA means high numerical aperture. The higher the NA number, the higher the resolution of the pattern etched on the silicon wafer. While current EUV machines have an aperture of 0.33 (equivalent to 13nm resolution), High NA machines have an aperture of 0.55 (equivalent to 8nm resolution). With a higher resolution pattern transferred to one wafer, the foundry could avoid having to run a wafer through the EUV machine twice to add additional features, saving both time and money.
The EUV High-NA machine aims to reduce transistor size and increase density to pack more transistors into a chip. The higher the number of transistors in a chip, the more powerful and energy efficient it is. With the High-NA machine, features can be reduced by 1.7 times with density increased by 2.9 times.
Shipping EUV High-NA machine is not an easy task. It is divided into 13 large containers and 250 crates. Assembling the machine may be a little more difficult than assembling the bike you bought your child for the holidays.
