In a presentation given in Japan, Intel discusses its 18A manufacturing process and announces some interesting gains in terms of power consumption and performance. The percentages announced are very interesting, especially as mass production is scheduled for the second half of 2025. What’s more, the company reaffirms that Panther Lake and Clearwater Forest CPUs will use it!
Intel 18A – big gains in power consumption and performance!
During its presentation, Intel announced some very interesting gains in terms of power consumption and performance. On a sub-block of ARM cores, the company mentioned performance gains of 15% compared to its current process, the Intel 3, all at the same voltage. However, at a voltage of just 1.1 V, we can expect a 25% increase in frequency compared to the current process, or a 40% reduction in power consumption at 0.75 V, again compared to the Intel 3. All this is made possible by the use of new transistors, the famous RibbonFETs, and PowerVIA technology. The transistors are powered differently than with FinFET transistors, which means stricter power supply control and greater efficiency.
What’s more, all this enables finer engraving, with cell heights measuring between 180 and 160 nm, all lower than before. Overall, we also find a reduction in the number of front-side metal layers for the logic part, from 12 to 19 in Intel 3 to 11 to 16 in 18A. Likewise, the horizontal spacing between the various M0 and M10 interconnect layers has been reduced from 60 to 32 nm, enabling higher interconnect density. Another factor to take into account is the improved simplicity of chip etching. This process requires fewer masks, thanks to the low EUV exposure of the M0 to M4 layers. Intel claims a 44% simplification of the processing flow. Once again, this is a process that will be available for mass production from the second half of 2025. And the first CPUs to exploit it will be Panther Lake and Clearwater Forest once again.
