At the recent IEDM 2022 (2022 IEEE International Electronic Devices Conference), Intel released a number of breakthrough research results, and also gave the latest roadmap, emphasizing that the company is maintaining ” a “quick pace,” and they not only have to stay on track but also speed up delivery times.
According to Intel’s terminology, the entry point of the post-nano era is “Ammie”, which is one-tenth of a nanometer. They named the process nodes below 2 nanometers as 20A and 18A, and will use this as the first launch/first adoption ASML’s High NA EUV equipment (probably 18A).
Simply put, Intel’s 20A process plans to enter the risk trial production stage in the first half of 2024, while the 18A process will be ready in the second half of 2024.
In addition, Intel confirmed that its upcoming Intel4 process is ready for production.
It’s worth noting that the process where the company refers to the node “ready for production” corresponds to the timeline when they expect the process to be in risk production. This means that the Intel 4 is now in a pre-production state.
That said, this could mean that the next generation of Meteor Lake won’t be delayed until 2024 as some rumors have suggested, it will arrive sometime in 2023.
▲ Picture source Intel, via: wccftech
The company also revealed that the 18A process plans to enter the risk trial production stage in February 2024.
In addition, Intel also confirmed that its 20A process will introduce both RibbonFET and PowerVias technology.
RibbonFET is a ring-gate or nano-transistor structure that is expected to extend Moore’s Law like FinFET, while PowerVia is a back-end power transmission technology. The combination of the two will inevitably bring considerable technological innovation.
Ann B Kelleher, general manager of technology development at Intel, said:
"Moore's Law is about the integration of functional innovations, and when we look 10 to 20 years into the future, there will be a path full of innovation."
When asked about the transition to RibbonFET and PowerVias technology on the 20A process, and considering the potential risks posed by the company’s missteps on the 10nm process, Ann Kelleher said:
"These didn't need to be done right away, but we saw significant advantages in moving to PowerVia to enable RibbonFET technology, ... and that has been very successful, allowing us to accelerate our development efforts."
