Semiconductor manufacturer Intel has announced the first concrete performance results for the Intel 18A-P manufacturing technology to be used in next-generation processor architectures. According to technical information presented at the Hot Chips event, the company increased operating frequency by 30% under a low voltage of 0.5 volts in silicon chips at the mass-production stage. In a direct comparison with FinFET processors featuring a similar architecture, double-digit performance gains were also achieved at high voltage levels when RibbonFET-based RibbonFET (GAA) was used together with backside power delivery (PowerVia).
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Advanced Transistor Architecture and Low-Resistance Structure
Compared with the basic Intel 18A architecture, the Intel 18A-P process provides more than 9% higher performance at the same power consumption or more than 18% power savings at the same performance level. The Power Boost technology on the platform creates ultra-low-resistance connections through a special dual-contact architecture.
Thanks to this structure, external resistance is reduced by 20% in NMOS components and by 12% in PMOS components.
The process also includes innovations aimed at addressing heating issues on the chip. While thermal conductivity between the layers is increased by 50%, an improvement of between 20% and 40% is achieved in the processor package’s total thermal resistance. This helps maintain frequency stability under high loads.
Metal Layers and Future Road Map
Two extra coarse metal layers have been incorporated into the chip design to reduce interconnect latency and routing congestion. Low-resistance wiring positioned at the top of the metal stack delivers a 3% frequency increase at 1.1 Volts and 2% power savings at 0.65 Volts. The company is also continuing its work on air-gap ruthenium interconnects and vertical logic stacking techniques.
Diamond Rapids and Nova Lake Architectures on Track
The first results of the Intel 18A-P manufacturing process will appear in flagship processors for the data center and consumer segments.
In the server segment, Intel Xeon 7 Diamond Rapids processors, which stand out with a design that scales up to 256 cores, will directly benefit from the advantages offered by this architecture. Placing the interconnect units at the center of the package will provide all cores with equal memory access.
The Intel Nova Lake processor family, which will be used in desktop and mobile platforms, will bring users the frequency and power-efficiency gains offered by the new process node. Both platforms are reportedly progressing according to schedule toward mass production.