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Back to What will computer chips look like in 2045?, with Chris Auth & Kevin Fischer.

Why Does high-NA EUV Pay Off for Intel and Not TSMC?

Chris Auth says high-NA extreme ultraviolet lithography pays off for Intel, and not yet for TSMC, because Intel's backside power relaxes the front-side wiring enough for one pass.

Standard EUV machines have a numerical aperture of 0.33. High-NA widens that cone of light to 0.55 and can print features about 1.7 times smaller in one pass. Patterns tighter than one pass can print are split across two, three, or even four passes. Each extra pass uses time on a machine that costs around $200 million and adds another chance for defects. High-NA machines cost about twice as much. Intel moves the thick power lines below the transistors, so the thinner signal lines on top do not have to be packed as tightly, and a single high-NA pass is enough. TSMC does not have backside power, so it still runs tighter pitches and uses double patterning.

On Intel 14A, high-NA stays an option in the process design kit. Intel decides that customer by customer, because the tool brings a benefit and also adds complexity.

Transcript

What will computer chips look like in 2045? ·

Dwarkesh Podcast

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