Intel deploys High-NA EUV with ASML Twinscan EXE:5200B for the 14A process

Intel has officially brought online the industry’s first commercial High-NA EUV tool — the ASML Twinscan EXE:5200B. The new lithography scanner has completed initial testing and will be used to develop the Intel 14A process, set to become the first node globally to apply high-numerical-aperture EUV to critical layers.

Built on the EXE:5000 platform that Intel received in 2023 for its Oregon research center, the EXE:5200B steps up in meaningful ways. With a numerical aperture of 0.55, the system delivers up to 8 nm resolution, cutting out the complex multi-patterning that conventional EUV scanners — typically around 13 nm — often require.

On throughput, the EXE:5200B can process up to 175 wafers per hour at a 50 mJ/cm² exposure dose and achieves 0.7 nm overlay accuracy. Those figures matter as the sector moves toward sub-nanometer elements, where even slight misalignment directly eats into yield.

To hit these targets, ASML and Intel strengthened the EUV light source and reworked key subsystems. Wafer transport and storage received particular attention: the updated architecture holds a steadier thermal environment while damping mechanical and thermal vibrations. In practice, that means less parameter drift over long runs and fewer interruptions for recalibration.

Intel notes that deploying High-NA EUV should simplify design rules, reduce lithography steps and mask counts, shorten manufacturing cycle time, and boost overall throughput for the 14A process and what follows. In parallel, the company is fine-tuning photomasks, etch processes, resolution enhancement methods, and metrology to draw out the full value of the new lithography.

Taken together, installing the Twinscan EXE:5200B signals High-NA EUV’s shift from experimental gear to high-volume production and could become a pivotal piece of Intel’s strategy to reclaim technological leadership in semiconductors.