September 12, 2014 \/\/ By Rick Merritt <\/p>\n
Intel believes it can drive Moores Law down to 7 nm even without long-delayed advances in lithography. <\/p>\n
Page 1 of 3 <\/p>\n
My day job is working on [research for a process to make] 7 nm [chips and] I believe there is a way without EUV, said Intel fellow Mark Bohr, responding to a question after a talk on Intels new 14 nm process. <\/p>\n
The optimism is significant given the core lithography used for patterning chips hasnt had an upgrade in more than a decade. Chipmakers generally dont expect the much-delayed extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography in time for 10 nm chips, but many still hold out hopes it could be ready for a 7 nm generation. <\/p>\n
I am very interested in EUV [because it] could really help scaling and perhaps process simplification, reducing three or four masks to one in some cases, Bohr said. Unfortunately, its not ready yet -- the throughput and reliability are not there. <\/p>\n
Bohr did not give any hints about how Intel will make 7 or even 10 nm chips without EUV. However he did note at 14 nm Intel is using triple patterning on one or more critical layers. <\/p>\n
Although wafer costs rose at an accelerating rate for the last two nodes due to the need for more masks, Intel continues to pack more transistors in a given area of silicon. The density offsets wafer costs, leading to the cost-per-transistor decline, Bohr said in his talk on Intels 14 nm process. <\/p>\n
One of the fundamental benefits of Moores Law is smaller feature sizes, primarily to get lower cost per transistor so we can do more things in a similarly sized chip, he said. <\/p>\n
Intel already announced it has started making in volume chips using a 14 nm process at a lower cost per transistor than its prior 22 nm generation. It also said it is in development of a 10 nm process that it believes will deliver lower cost per transistor. <\/p>\n
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EUV not needed at 10 or 7nm, says Intel<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" September 12, 2014 \/\/ By Rick Merritt Intel believes it can drive Moores Law down to 7 nm even without long-delayed advances in lithography. Page 1 of 3 My day job is working on [research for a process to make] 7 nm [chips and] I believe there is a way without EUV, said Intel fellow Mark Bohr, responding to a question after a talk on Intels new 14 nm process. Continue reading