Intel 18A

It took the semiconductor industry over a decade to prep everything needed for production of chips using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. It looks like it is going to take a lot less to reach the next level — EUV with High-NA. Higher Resolution Needed Nowadays the most advanced chips are made on 5/4-nm-class process using EUV lithography ASML's Twinscan NXE:3400C (and similar) systems that feature a 0.33 numerical aperture (NA) optics, which provides a 13 nm resolution. This resolution is good enough for a single-pattern approach at 7 nm/6 nm nodes with 36 nm ~ 38 nm pitches and at 5nm with 30 nm ~ 32 nm pitches. But as pitches get below 30 nm (at beyond 5 nm nodes) the 13 nm resolution might call...