Latest news with #TwinscanEXE:5000
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Intel has championed High-NA EUV chipmaking tools, but costs and other limitations could delay industry-wide adoption: Report
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Intel has made significant strides in implementing High-NA EUV lithography by installing two High-NA litho machines, developing custom reticles as well as all-new optical proximity correction, and processing 30,000 wafers. However, major hurdles remain: the $380 million – $400 million tool cost and potential necessity to overhaul photomask supply chain limits economic viability of the technology. Furthermore, a single High-NA EUV exposure costs 2.5 times more than a single Low-NA EUV exposure, which raises further questions about economic feasibility over the next few years, reports SemiAnalysis. ASML's Twinscan EXE:5000 weighs 150 tons and is priced around $380 million – $400 million, roughly double that of its Low-NA Twinscan NXE predecessors. At the SPIE conference earlier this year IBM presented simulation data comparing different approaches to patterning. It showed that replacing three or four Low-NA masks with one High-NA exposure could yield cost savings. For example, IBM estimated a four-mask self-aligned double patterning flow is 1.7 to 2.1 times more expensive than a single High-NA exposure. But when only two Low-NA passes are replaced, High-NA becomes more expensive by 2.5 times, which means that High-NA is only cost-efficient when it can eliminate three or more exposures. This does not mean that the industry will not need High-NA tools. It means that the industry will have tangible benefits of using High-NA EUV lithography when it needs triple or quadruple patterning with Low-NA EUV scanners, which will depend on process technologies that the industry adopts and aggressiveness of process scaling going to Intel, this may happen sooner rather than later. The company showed imaging results, made economic comparisons, and discussed patterning alternatives, and ecosystem readiness, painting a detailed picture of where High-NA EUV stands in 2025 at the SPIE Advanced Lithography conference earlier this year. The imaging results included key device layers such as metal and contact levels. In the case of metal layers, Intel used one High-NA exposure to replace a previous scheme requiring three separate Low-NA exposures and around 30 total process steps. This simplification could reduce cost and defectivity for complex interconnect structures. In contact holes, yield from early High-NA tests matched that of established multi-patterning flows, despite the initial masks being early-stage test versions. These outcomes suggest High-NA EUV lithography is technically viable for some of the most challenging layers at upcoming nodes. Intel itself is expected to selectively implement High-NA EUV lithography for a few layers within its Intel 14A (1.4nm-class) process technology, though ecosystem readiness could impact the company's plans. For Intel, the good news is that it is at the helm of that ecosystem development and will therefore have a lead over rivals. By acquiring and installing two ASML Twinscan EXE:5000 lithography tools ahead of competitors, Intel is ahead of the industry in gathering process data and proving viability for high-volume manufacturing. Intel did everything it could to get its High-NA EUV scanners as early as possible. It received the first Twinscan EXE:5000 machine over a year ago and skipped ASML's typical factory tool qualification, which includes assembly of the tool at an ASML facility — opting instead for assembly and startup at its own D1D fab near Hillsboro, Oregon. This early decision gave Intel a head start in validating the system and building process readiness. To support its development efforts, Intel exposed over 30,000 wafers across both High-NA tools, making it the most experienced user of this new getting a new scanner and assembling it are only some of the challenges associated with making it work properly. In addition, Intel needed to develop process technology itself, photomasks, resists, and optical proximity correction (OPC) software enhancement techniques. Normally, since all these things are co-dependent, they are developed serially. However, Intel adopted a parallel development strategy to meet the tight timeline for its 14A (1.4nm-class) node, which is expected to be production ready in 2026. The company shared details how it managed to do so at this year's SPIE Advanced Lithography began to develop OPC well before it got its High-NA EUV tool running. The company used simulations and exposures on conventional EUV tools to extrapolate and fine-tune models intended for High-NA EUV. This strategy bypassed the usual delay in mask preparation and enabled immediate pilot line operation once the High-NA scanners were up. Results exceeded expectations: source power reached 110% of target (a first for an ASML scanner at launch) and overlay alignment measured at 0.6nm, which is comparable (yet, not as precise) to mature Low-NA systems. By now, Intel has made significant strides in developing production ready photomasks, resists, OCP, and other elements of High-NA EUV production flow. However, it looks like the obstacles associated with adoption of High-NA EUV tools by the industry are not only engineering challenges, but also economic hurdles associated both with infrastructure development and usage scenarios. One of the challenges with High-NA EUV lithography is the two times smaller exposure field compared to Low-NA EUV lithography due to higher numerical aperture of projection optics: 26 mm × 16.5 mm vs. 26 mm × 33 mm. This is a major challenge for large chips like GPUs and CPUs, which often exceed the 13×26 mm limit of a single High-NA exposure. Therefore, to pattern these dies, two or more overlapping exposures (stitched fields) must be used (an alternative is to use a multi-chiplet designs). This introduces alignment complexity, risks of overlay errors, and yield loss in the stitched regions. Also, with fewer chips fit per exposure field, more passes per wafer are required, which reduces the wafer-per-hour rate and increases cost per proposes to use accelerated stages (i.e., accelerate how the wafer moves under the photomask) to compensate for higher number of exposures. However, Intel has long proposed to use a larger 6×12-inch photomask instead of industry-standard 6×6-inch photomask. A larger photomask solves the half-field problem by doubling the reticle area, allowing it to hold two adjacent half-field images side by side. When used with appropriately configured High-NA optics, this enables the system to expose a full 26 mm × 33 mm field in one scan pass, restoring the field size to that of Low-NA tools. This obviously eliminates the need for stitching and all the challenges associated with the shift to larger photomasks would require a complete overhaul of the mask supply chain, from blank preparation and e-beam writing to handling and fab integration. ASML acknowledged that internal studies on larger masks are in progress but has not committed to bringing the capability to market. The change would disrupt the company's platform unification strategy for Low-NA, High-NA, and eventually Hyper-NA tools and potentially reduce sales of higher-end tools. In photoresist development, metal-oxide resists are gaining ground as the preferred option for High-NA, according to the Intel's presentation at SPIE. These materials provide better performance in terms of resolution, line-edge roughness, and dose sensitivity, especially important given the thinner films required by the thin depth-of-focus associated with High-NA optics. Traditional chemically amplified resists struggle with etch resistance at the thicknesses now needed, while metal-oxide formulations retain sufficient durability during pattern transfer. Most SPIE 2025 data shared for High-NA tools used metal-oxide resists rather than legacy organics, according to SemiAnalysis. The method of applying and developing photoresist is another point of industry concern. Tokyo Electron currently dominates the standard wet process with spin-on coating and wet development in its track tools. Lam Research is attempting to gain share by promoting a dry deposition and dry development approach, done in its proprietary tools. While Intel plans to adopt High-NA EUV for its 14A node, the company itself has stated that 14A is possible using only Low-NA EUV lithography (albeit, with multipatterning). That said, broad deployment may be deferred until the 1.0nm-class generation, when further cost reduction, process maturity, and infrastructure upgrades are more likely to align. For now, Intel's early investments grant it an advantage in know-how, giving it a strategic edge as the technology matures. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis and reviews in your Google feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
1 Artificial Intelligence Stock I'm Buying Hand Over First While It's Down 30%
The stock market has plummeted since "Liberation Day," when President Donald Trump announced wide-reaching import tariffs. The news has hit technology companies particularly hard, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite now officially in a bear market. It's a stressful time for investors, but this kind of market turmoil can lead to good buying opportunities. One of my favorites right now is ASML (NASDAQ: ASML), a Dutch artificial intelligence (AI) company that produces equipment used to make semiconductors. Over the last year, ASML's share price has dropped by more than 30%. Despite the recent challenges, its competitive advantages make it one of the top long-term investments in the tech sector. ASML produces lithography systems -- light projection systems crucial to semiconductor production. Chip manufacturers use these systems to etch patterns onto photosensitive silicon wafers. A wafer serves as the foundation of the chip. Semiconductor chips are widely used in modern-day tech, including smartphones, computers, and cars. While other companies make lithography equipment, ASML is the only one that makes extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems. This is the type of system needed to manufacture the most powerful AI chips, and it's extremely expensive. For example, ASML's High-NA Twinscan EXE:5000 system, released last year, costs $380 million and weighs over 300,000 pounds. At those prices, ASML doesn't need to sell a high volume to make billions. It sold 44 EUV systems in 2024, which accounted for 38% of its 21.8 billion euros in net system sales. It sells to some of the biggest chipmakers in the world, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), and Samsung. One natural concern, when a company has essentially a 100% market share, is that it won't be able to maintain its position. Competitors will enter the market and take a portion of the business. The biggest threat to ASML in this regard comes from China, which is investing about $40 billion in its chip industry and the development of EUV lithography systems. However, these systems are incredibly complex and difficult to produce. Any competing products will most likely take several years to develop, and there's no guarantee they'll match ASML's products. The rapid growth in AI technology has ramped up the demand for semiconductors. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, global semiconductor sales totaled $627.6 billion in 2024, up 19.1% from 2023. And they're projected to reach $1 trillion by 2030. That would likely drive significant revenue growth for ASML since its EUV systems are essential to the production of AI chips. Now, last year wasn't overly impressive for the tech company in this regard. Total revenue was 28.3 billion euros in 2024, a modest 2.6% increase from 2023. ASML's earnings releases last year are a large part of why its share price had already fallen, well before the news about tariffs. Early indications are that 2025 will be a much better year for ASML. Its revenue projections are 7.5 billion to 8 billion euros for the first quarter of 2025, which would be a year-over-year increase of between 42% and 51% (depending on where exactly revenue lands). As far as long-term projections go, ASML believes it could reach sales of 44 billion to 60 billion euros in 2030. ASML essentially has a technological monopoly, and you won't find companies like that often. Shares are affordably priced, too, as the current forward price-to-earnings (PE) ratio is fairly affordable for a tech stock. There is always the risk that the AI boom will fizzle out, especially if the economy softens. In that situation, tech companies planning to invest billions in AI may decide that money is better spent elsewhere. However, the AI market is expected to keep growing, and some of ASML's biggest customers have announced major expansion plans. ASML plays a crucial role in semiconductor production that only it can fill. With its dominant market position, this company is well-equipped to handle economic uncertainty, and it's a fantastic stock to consider adding to your portfolio. Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you'll want to hear this. On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a 'Double Down' stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you're worried you've already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it's too late. And the numbers speak for themselves: Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you'd have $278,956!* Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you'd have $36,102!* Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you'd have $496,779!* Right now, we're issuing 'Double Down' alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join , and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.*Stock Advisor returns as of April 5, 2025 Lyle Daly has positions in ASML. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends ASML, Intel, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short May 2025 $30 calls on Intel. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 1 Artificial Intelligence Stock I'm Buying Hand Over First While It's Down 30% was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Intel has processed 30,000 wafers with High-NA EUV chipmaking tool
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Intel has started using two leading-edge ASML High-NA Twinscan EXE:5000 EUV lithography tools, the company revealed on Monday at an industry conference, Reuters reports. The company uses these systems for research and development purposes, and so far, Intel has processed tens of thousands of wafers using them. Intel installed and started using two High-NA EUV lithography tools from ASML at its D1 development fab near Hillsboro, Oregon, last year and has now processed as many as 30,000 wafers using these systems, Intel engineer Steve Carson revealed at the SPIE Advanced Lithography + Patterning conference. Intel was the first leading chipmaker to get High-NA EUV machines (which are believed to cost €350 million each) last year and plans to use them to produce its 14A (1.4nm-class) chips several years down the road. Adopting an all-new manufacturing tool ahead of competitors is important, as it enables Intel to develop various High-NA EUV manufacturing aspects (such as glass for photomasks, pellicles for photomasks, chemicals, etc.) that could eventually become industry standards. Also, ASML is poised to develop its Twinscan EXE:5000 High-NA EUV tools with feedback provided by engineers from Intel, which could give the American giant an edge over competitors over time. Processing 30,000 wafers in a quarter is far below what commercial-grade systems can do. However, the number is massive for R&D usage, demonstrating how serious Intel is about becoming the leading chip maker in the High-NA EUV era. Although ASML considers its Twinscan EXE:5000 High-NA EUV lithography tools to be pre-production tools not designed for high-volume manufacturing, Intel has reportedly said these systems are 'more reliable than earlier models.' Still, the report does not elaborate on whether ASML's Twinscan EXE:5000 is more reliable than the company's pre-production Twinscan NXE:3300 tool from 2013, which was used to develop the existing EUV ecosystem, or the production-grade Twinscan NXE:3600D or NXE:3800E that are used for high-volume manufacturing (HVM) today. Considering that ASML uses similar light sources for NXE and EXE machines, they may indeed be very reliable. ASML's Twinscan EXE High-NA EUV lithography tools can achieve a resolution of down to 8nm with a single exposure, a substantial improvement compared to Low-NA EUV systems that offer 13.5nm resolution with a single exposure. While current-generation Low-NA EUV tools can still achieve an 8nm resolution with double patterning, this lengthens the product cycle and can affect yields. High-NA EUV tools reduce the exposure field by half compared to Low-NA EUV systems, which require chip developers to alter their designs. Given the costs and peculiarities of High-NA EUV litho systems, all chipmakers have different strategies for their adoption. Intel clearly wants to be the first adopter, whereas TSMC is a little more cautious.
