Intel's William Grimm: 4nm EUV Production Not Yet in Full Swing

In recent news, the prominent Japanese tech publication ascii.jp conducted an insightful interview with Intel's Senior Director of Technology Development, Pat Stover, and the Vice President and Director of Logic Technology and Development Products Engineering, William Grimm. This interview brought to light significant advancements in Intel's upcoming processor technology.

Presently, Intel's 4nm manufacturing process is exclusively underway at their D1 facility, located in Oregon, USA. This expansive production encompasses D1C, D1D, and D1X nodes, resulting in a remarkable monthly production capacity of 40,000 wafers. Notably, this production figure encompasses all process nodes within the facility, and not exclusively the 4nm process.

At the Intel Fab 34 facility in Ireland, which is Intel's inaugural production site for the 4nm process, operations are currently in the testing phase and have not yet reached full-scale production. It's worth mentioning that within the Intel 4nm portfolio, there is no direct counterpart to, for instance, Intel 7+ (a refined version of Intel 7 used in Raptor Lake).

The deployment of dust-resistant film components in the Intel 4nm process remains unconfirmed at this juncture. In contrast, TSMC has effectively adopted EUV lithography without the need for such films, while Samsung relies on them. Intel previously employed dust-resistant films in earlier processes, but its utilization in the Intel 4nm process remains uncertain.

Intel's 4nm process marks a significant milestone as the company's inaugural deployment of Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) technology. Reverse engineering data sourced from IC Knowledge indicates that Intel's 4nm process exhibits performance metrics that surpass TSMC's 5nm process and approach the capabilities of the 3nm process. It's noteworthy that William emphasized the challenge of direct comparisons between Intel 4nm and other foundries' existing nodes, prompting Intel to conduct its proprietary PPA benchmarks for reference.

William showcased samples of the Meteor Lake processor, notable for its substantial physical dimensions. However, it's essential to clarify that only the CPU segment located in the top-left corner is manufactured using Intel's 4nm process.

Furthermore, predictions from international media outlets suggest that, based on previously disclosed wafer maps, even with a yield rate of 50%, each wafer can yield a remarkable 365 chips, facilitating the production of 365,000 CPU units per month with relative ease.

In addition to these developments, Intel has announced its highly anticipated "Innovation 2023" event, commencing on September 19th and spanning two days. The event's comprehensive schedule has been made publicly available, confirming that Intel intends to unveil the next-generation Meteor Lake processor architecture during this eagerly awaited event. These updates carry significant implications for the tech industry and computing landscape.