Intel has begun using ASML’s next-generation High NA extreme ultraviolet machine on some layers of its Panther Lake laptop chips in Oregon after testing started in 2024.

The move gives the lithography system a limited production role in those processors.

ASML, a Dutch chip equipment maker, says High NA uses the same 13.5-nanometer light as standard extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography but raises the numerical aperture from 0.33 to 0.55.

That improves resolution from about 13 nanometers to 8 nanometers and reduces the need for multi-patterning on the most complex chip layers.

ASML says the EXE:5000 can print more than 185 wafers an hour and is aimed at high-volume manufacturing in 2025 and 2026.

But the system costs about US$400 million, and cost models suggest it is economical only when one High NA exposure replaces three or more passes on standard EUV.

That helps explain why Intel is using High NA selectively. TSMC has reiterated that it does not need the tools for its A16 and A14 manufacturing nodes.

🔗 Source: Reuters

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