This article details Intel's semiconductor process technology history for research and posterity.

Overview

The table below shows the history of Intel's process scaling. Values were taken from various Intel documents including IDF presentations, ISSCC papers, and IEDM papers. Note that while a great deal of effort was put into ensuring the accuracy of the values, some numbers vary to a small degree between Intel's own documents and therefore discrepancies may exist. SRAM bitcell areas refer to a high-density 6T bitcell with the exception of the very first few processes where smaller cell designs were used. Additionally, the metal layer count is for the client dies (example consumer mobile & desktop); server models utilize considerably more layers. Finally, from the 45 nm node, Intel has switched to utilizing a high-κ material, therefore the oxide thickness shown refers to the equivalent oxide thickness instead.

Nomenclature

Intel has been using the same naming scheme for decades. All process technologies (including packaging technologies) begin with a 'P' followed by the wafer size and the process ID. Generally, the process ID is an auto-increment value with odd values generally reserved for SoC and I/O (low power) devices while the even values have been used for Intel premier line of high-performance processors.

Timeline

1 µm vs 500 nm yield

historical roadmap

Ramps from 1 µm to 65 nm

Roadmap past 180 nm

SRAM test chips from 130 nm to 45 nm

Intel's fab roadmap from 2003. Intel had to switch to FinFET after gate length scaling stalled due to subpar electrical characteristics.

65 nm to 32 nm SRAM scaling

90 nm to 32 nm

Intel scaling from 45 nm to 10 nm

Intel roadmap from 10 nm to 5 nm and an advance packaging roadmap.

Year	Process	Node	MLayers	µarchs	Gate	Interconnects	Attributes
1972	PMOS I	10 µm	1	4004			Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Lg	10.0 µm
1974	HMOS I	8 µm	1				Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Lg	8.0 µm
1976	HMOS II/III	6 µm	1	8080			Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Lg	6.0 µm
1977	CHMOS I	3 µm	1	8085, 8086, 8088, 80186			Tox	70 nm	Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Vdd	5 V	SRAM	1120 µm²
							Lg	3.0 µm
							CPP	7 µm	MMP	11 µm
1979	CHMOS II	2 µm	1				Tox	40 nm	Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Vdd	5 V	SRAM	1740 µm²
							Lg	2.0 µm
							CPP	5.6 µm	MMP	8 µm
1982	P646 (CHMOS III)	1.5 µm	1	80286, 80386			Tox	25 nm	Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Vdd	5 V	SRAM	951.7 µm²
							Lg	1.5 µm
							CPP	4.0 µm	MMP	6.4 µm
1987	P648	1.0 µm	2	80486			Tox		Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Vdd	5 V	SRAM	220 µm²
							Lg	1.0 µm
							CPP		MMP
1989	P650	0.8 µm	3	80486			Tox	15 nm	Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Vdd	4 V	SRAM	111 µm²
							Lg	800 nm
							CPP	1.7 µm	MMP	2 µm
1991	P652	0.6 µm	4	80486, P5			Tox	8 nm	Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Vdd	3.3 V	SRAM
							Lg	600 nm
							CPP		MMP	1.4 µm
1993	P852	0.5 µm	4	P5			Tox	8 nm	Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Vdd	3.3 V	SRAM	44 µm²
							Lg	500 nm
							CPP		MMP
1995	P854	0.35 µm	4	P6			Tox	6 nm	Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Vdd	2.5 V	SRAM	20.5 µm²
							Lg	350 nm
							CPP	920 nm	MMP	880 nm
1997	P856	0.25 µm	5	P6			Tox	4.08 nm	Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Vdd	1.8 V	SRAM	10.26 µm²
							Lg	200 nm
							CPP	500 nm	MMP	640 nm
1998	P856.5	0.25 µm	5	P6			Tox	4.08 nm	Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Vdd	1.8 V	SRAM	9.26 µm²
							Lg	200 nm
							CPP	475 nm	MMP	608 nm
1999	P858	0.18 µm	6	NetBurst			Tox	2.0 nm	Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Vdd	1.6 V	SRAM	5.59 µm²
							Lg	130 nm
							CPP	480 nm	MMP	500 nm
2001	P860	0.13 µm	6	Pentium M			Tox	1.4 nm	Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Vdd	1.4 V	SRAM	2.45 µm²
							Lg	70 nm
							CPP	336 nm	MMP	345 nm
2003	P1262 (CPU) P1263 (SoC, I/O)	90 nm	7	Pentium M			Tox	1.2 nm	Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Vdd	1.2 V	SRAM	1.00 µm²
							Lg	50 nm
							CPP	260 nm	MMP	220 nm
2005	P1264 (CPU) P1265 (SoC, I/O)	65 nm	8	Core, Modified Pentium M			Tox	1.2 nm	Gate Dielectric	SiO2
							Vdd		SRAM	0.570 µm²
							Lg	35 nm
							CPP	220 nm	MMP	210 nm
2007	P1266 (CPU) P1267 (SoC, I/O)	45 nm	9	Penryn, Nehalem			Toxe	1 nm	Gate Dielectric	High-κ
							Vdd		SRAM	0.346 µm²
							Lg	25 nm
							CPP	160 nm	MMP	180 nm
2009	P1268 (CPU) P1269 (SoC, I/O)	32 nm	10	Westmere, Sandy Bridge			Toxe	1 nm	Gate Dielectric	High-κ
							Vdd	0.75 V	SRAM	0.148 µm²
							Lg	30 nm
							CPP	112.5 nm	MMP	112.5 nm
2011	P1270 (CPU) P1271 (SoC, I/O)	22 nm	11	Ivy Bridge, Haswell			Toxe	0.9 nm	Gate Dielectric	High-κ
							Vdd	0.75 V	SRAM	0.092 µm²
							Lg	26 nm
							CPP	90 nm	MMP	80 nm
							Pfin	60 nm
							Wfin	8 nm	Hfin	34 nm
2014	P1272 (CPU) P1273 (SoC, I/O)	14 nm	12	Broadwell, Skylake, Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake, Cascade Lake, Comet Lake			Toxe		Gate Dielectric	High-κ
							Vdd	0.70 V	SRAM	0.0499 µm²
							Lg	20 nm
							CPP	70 nm	MMP	52 nm
							Pfin	42 nm
							Wfin	8 nm	Hfin	42-46 nm
2019	P1274 (CPU) P1275 (SoC, I/O)	10 nm	12-13	Cannon Lake, Ice Lake, Tiger Lake, Alder Lake, Sapphire Rapids, Raptor Lake			Toxe		Gate Dielectric	High-κ
							Vdd	0.70 V	SRAM	0.0312 µm²
							Lg	18 nm
							CPP	54 nm	MMP	36 nm
							Pfin	34 nm
							Wfin	7 nm	Hfin	44-55 nm
2021	P1276 (CPU) P1277 (SoC, I/O)	7 nm					Toxe		Gate Dielectric
							Vdd		SRAM
							Lg
							CPP		MMP
							Pfin
							Wfin		Hfin
2024	P1278 (CPU) P1279 (SoC, I/O)	5 nm					Toxe		Gate Dielectric
							Vdd		SRAM
							Lg
							CPP		MMP
							Pfin
							Wfin		Hfin
2027	P1280 (CPU) P1281 (SoC, I/O)	3 nm					Toxe		Gate Dielectric
							Vdd		SRAM
							Lg
							CPP		MMP
							Pfin
							Wfin		Hfin

SRAM Scaling

For Intel, from 2 µm to 10 nm, SRAM 6T bit cells have had an average shrink of 0.496x in an attempt to maintain Moore's Law double density observation/requirement. Note that SRAM shrunk more significantly prior to the 65 nm process node. It should also be noted that logic typically scales better than the typical 6T SRAM cells, so raw logic density scaled more over time. Nonetheless, the size of the SRAM can be as much as three to four times the density of the typical logic cell.

Other processes

Semiconductor Process history by company:

• DEC
• Intel

See also

• Copy Exactly!