Intel made an interesting announcement on process technology and revealed a series of interesting details about the company's innovation roadmap for 2025 and beyond.

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The company positions this as the arrival of the "angstrom era," in which devices and materials are processed at the atomic level, but what does this really mean?

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First, one angstrom (1Å) is a unit equivalent to 0.1 nm, which means that the size of a silicon atom is 1.92Å. Intel has specified a new process node that it calls "Intel 20A," which is based on a limiting dimension of 20Å. In other words, the 20A process limits the number of silicon atoms in a 20Å layer to 11. Thus, it is clear that Intel's reference to the "atomic level" is not mere hype, but truly industry-leading.

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Intel has announced two new technologies that will enable the angstrom era: the RibbonFET, its first new transistor architecture since 2011, and PowerVia, which it claims is the "industry's first" new backside power delivery method.

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Part of Intel's new 20A process node, the RibbonFET is a gate-all-around transistor implemented by Intel. This technology improves the switching speed of the transistor and achieves the same drive current as a multifin, but with a smaller footprint.

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PowerVia eliminates the need for power routing on the front of the wafer and optimizes signal routing to optimize signal transmission and reduce droop and noise.

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While the concept is bold, fabricating complex 3D structures in the "angstrom era" will not be an easy task. It will rely heavily on subtractive and additive atomic-level processes: atomic-level deposition (ALD) and atomic-level etching (ALE).

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Advanced metrology is essential for the consistent success of ALD and ALE. For this reason, we have developed Atonarp's Aston platform to provide real-time in-situ metrology capabilities for fabs; the Aston system is ideal for observing and controlling ALE and ALD processes to achieve this level of advanced manufacturing precision.

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According to Intel, 20A is expected to launch in 2024, which is right around the corner in the complex world of semiconductor factories. We look forward to seeing how the angstrom era unfolds and the important role advanced metrology will play in making that vision a reality.