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ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) reported that Intel Foundry is using ASML’s High NA EUV technology on the Intel 18A process node to produce a subset of its Intel® Core™ Ultra Series 3 processors. This milestone marks an important step in demonstrating High NA EUV readiness in a production environment.
ASML and Intel have worked closely for decades to advance lithography technology and support the continued scaling of semiconductors. The high numerical aperture extreme ultraviolet (High NA EUV) lithography process is an important next step in EUV lithography, developed by ASML to enable more precise patterning for advanced chip manufacturing.
The Intel® Core™ Ultra Series 3 processors, code-named Panther Lake, are built on Intel 18A. The use of High NA EUV to pattern specific layers of these products provides ASML and Intel Foundry with helpful data to further refine system setup, up time and manufacturing implementation. This paves the way towards broader adoption, utilizing the full capabilities of the technology.
“With increased resolution and better process control, the introduction of High NA EUV marks a substantial development in semiconductor lithography,” said Christophe Fouquet, ASML President and CEO. “We are proud to play a role in enabling the smaller, denser patterning that will accelerate advancements in AI and other emerging technologies.”
“This milestone reflects the close technical collaboration between Intel and ASML and shows how High NA EUV can be integrated into advanced semiconductor manufacturing at scale,” said Naga Chandrasekaran, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Intel Foundry. “By qualifying the High NA EUV process option on select Intel 18A product layers, our existing fleet of tools are providing customers with increased output, while we develop future options to achieve leading-edge performance, density and manufacturing flexibility on upcoming nodes.”
In 2024, Intel and ASML completed integration of the industry’s first commercial High NA EUV lithography system at the company’s Hillsboro, Oregon, R&D site. Intel Foundry was also the first company to install and pass acceptance testing of the second generation, TWINSCAN EXE:5200B, which builds on the TWINSCAN EXE:5000 and increases output and overlay accuracy, along with an improved light source. With this announcement, Intel Foundry is first in the industry to ship high-volume logic product using High NA EUV.
