Semiconductor equipment maker ASML announced this week it has sold 15 of its new extreme ultraviolet lithography tools - a deal worth $1 billion or more that could signal the long-awaited technology is finally ready for prime time.
Reports suggest the new tools are likely headed to Intel's newest factories in Hillsboro, where the chipmaker develops each new generation of manufacturing technology.
The semiconductor industry has been waiting for EUV for more than a decade, anticipating that the tools will enable patterning ever-smaller features on computer chips. That, in turn, can improve performance while reducing power consumption.
Intel's new, $3 billion D1X research factory - where the company is now developing its 10 nanometer manufacturing technology - was designed to be the company's first to accommodate EUV. Intel manufacturing executives have repeatedly lamented delays in EUV's development, attributed to persistent flaws in the tool's performance.
These EUV tools are huge, and they're the big reason why D1X is so large - two adjoining factories of 1.1 million square feet apiece.
"It basically takes an entire 747 to fly one of these new tools out," in the words of one industry analyst. "And if you don't balance it right, you can't get the 747 off the ground."
Without EUV, imprinting patterns on the computer chips takes additional steps - adding production costs and reducing the capabilities that would come with tinier features.
News of ASML's equipment sale sent the company's stock up more than 10 percent. Reuters reports the tools are likely headed to Intel, with the first two pieces of equipment in the order scheduled for delivery by the end of the year.
Intel hopes to have EUV in time for its 7nm process node, slated to enter production in 2018. As recently as last fall, though, the company indicated it was prepared to wait on adopting EUV until a later generation of chip technology - though waiting would add cost and could reduce the new chips' capabilities.
However, this week's big order suggests Intel may be moving forward with EUV after all.
"In our view this is a clear sign of trust in the new technology, which will be welcomed by the market," said ING analyst Robin van den Broek told Reuters.
Successful implementation of EUV is a prerequisite for another big advance in chip manufacturing technology: The transition from 300-millimeter silicon wafers to pizza-sized, 450mm wafers. The larger wafers hold more chips, cutting as much as a third from the overall production cost.
D1X is the first factory Intel built to accommodate the 450mm transition, another manufacturing advance that has been repeatedly delayed owing to slower-than-expected development of the accompanying manufacturing tools.
If Intel is indeed moving forward with EUV, it could also revive the company's slumbering Fab 42 in Arizona. Intel mothballed the factory last year before even beginning production amid a slowdown in chip demand and the delays in new production technology.
When EUV finally comes online, Intel will need Fab 42 to begin mass production using the new tools. Eventually, it might also need more out of Oregon. Intel is wrapping up construction on the second phase of D1X this year and plans to have it fully equipped by the end of 2016.
Additionally, Intel's long-term plans call for a mammoth, third phase to D1X.
-- Mike Rogoway
mrogoway@oregonian.com
503-294-7699
@rogoway