At Intel’s developer forum (IDF), the company said that it is working to drive processes down to 7nm, without advances in lithography. EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography, rather than today’s deep UV lithography, is commonly thought to be required for 10nm and lower processes. Intel fellow Mark Bohr said that he is “very interested” in EUV, but said that its “throughout and reliability are not there”.
Bohr did not discuss how Intel plans to shrink its processes without EUV. Intel is developing a 10nm process and believes that it will be able to offer external foundry customers the chance to try it out by the end of 2015.
