Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Recently, Intel CEO Pat Kissinger said that Intel will complete its "four-year and five process nodes" plan as planned or ahead of schedule, and Intel's progress in process technology is being fully recognized by third parties.

In July 2021, Intel announced a "four-year five process nodes" plan to regain process leadership in 2025 by promoting Intel 7, Intel 4, Intel 3, Intel 20A and Intel 18A over the next four years. The plan also marks a change in the way Intel names process nodes, which no longer represent the specific physical characteristics of chips in the semiconductor industry, but still represent improvements in performance and energy efficiency.

The plan is halfway through, and according to Pat Kissinger, Intel is steadily approaching its realization: Intel 7 has been mass-produced; Intel 4 has been mass-produced using EUV (extreme Ultraviolet Lithography) technology. Intel Core Ultra processor based on this node will be launched on December 14. Intel 3 will be ready for production by the end of 2023 to support Intel's first two Intel 3-based products, the energy-efficient core-to-strong processor Sierra Forest, which will be available in the first half of 2024, and the Granite Rapids, which will follow. In terms of production progress, Sierra Forest has been flowed from the fab, and Granite Rapids has completed the design certification (taped-in) as expected and started trial production in the fab.

Next, Intel 20A is expected to be ready for production in the first half of 2024, and Intel 18A is expected to be ready for production in the second half of 2024. Through these two nodes, Intel will enter the angstrom era. Intel's main product on the Intel 20A process node, the client processor Arrow Lake, has been able to run the Windows operating system and has demonstrated excellent functionality. In addition, Intel has reached a key milestone in the Intel 18A process node with the launch of version 0.9 of PDK (process Design Kit), which will soon be available to external customers. The first products based on Intel 18A process nodes will be trial-produced in fabs in the first half of 2024, including Clearwater Forest for servers, Panther Lake for clients, and a growing number of Intel foundry service test chips.

Where does Intel's confidence in the "four-year five process nodes" program come from? Pat Kissinger believes that Intel will insist on checking the progress of each node in the process of advancing the plan, so the plan is not a castle in the air, but a solid and rigorous project.

In addition, Intel has also applied many innovative technologies to new nodes. In addition to accelerating the adoption of EUV technology, Intel has also completed the research and development of two key technologies, the back power supply technology of PowerVia and the full surround gate transistor of RibbonFET, which will be used in Intel 20A and Intel 18A. By moving the power cord to the back of the wafer, PowerVia improves both transistor power supply and signal transmission, while RibbonFET allows the transistor channel to be surrounded by a gate, further reducing the size of the transistor and improving its performance. In Intel's third-quarter 2023 earnings call, Pat Kissinger was excited about the two technologies: "I've been making chips for more than 40 years, and I've never seen such a beautiful transistor. It can be called an amazing work of art!"

Pat Kissinger presents Intel 18A wafers at Intel on Technology Innovation Conference 2023

Speaking of the importance of the "five process nodes in four years" program, Pat Kissinger said frankly that Intel's transformation is based on re-establishing its leading position in transistor performance and energy efficiency. "people will believe Intel only if they promote five process nodes in four years, fulfill their promises and achieve our goals."

Intel's active commitment is also increasingly recognized by third-party customers, although the plan was seen as an "impossible task" when it was announced. In terms of Intel contract manufacturing services, an important customer committed to adopt Intel 18A and Intel 3 and made an advance payment. The customer found that the chips designed and produced by Intel contract manufacturing services performed well in terms of power consumption, performance and area efficiency, and recently, two new customers focused on high-performance computing signed up to adopt Intel 18A. Prior to this, Intel reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Synaptics to develop IP based on Intel 3 and Intel 18A process nodes for Intel's internal and external contract manufacturing customers, and signed agreements with Arm involving multi-generation cutting-edge system chip design, enabling chip designers to use Intel 18A to develop low-power computing system-level chips. Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson will also use Intel 18A to build customized 5G system-on-chip chips.

Glass core substrate for testing

In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about the vitality of Moore's Law. Pat Kissinger said that Intel will continue to act as the faithful "guardian" of Moore's Law, tapping the infinite possibilities in the periodic table and promoting technological progress. Intel is trying to explore how to expand its lead in the future, such as taking the lead in introducing glass substrates for the next generation of advanced packaging, which can further improve density and performance, and have unique optical properties. Intel will also begin installing the world's first commercial high numerical aperture (High-NA) EUV tool by the end of this year. Next year, Intel will develop a new plan after "five process nodes in four years" to continue to promote innovation after regaining process leadership.

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