Intel Introduces Intel 4 Process: 2x Density, Over 20% Performance Improvement

IT House June 13 news, according to AnandTech news, Intel has now shared some news about its next-generation Intel 4 process.

According to reports, the process will be used in products released in 2023, and it is Intel’s first process to use EUV.

Intel 4 will be used first for Intel’s upcoming Meteor Lake processors, which will be part of Intel’s 14th Gen Core family. In addition to significant advancements in process technology, Meteor Lake will be Intel’s first tile/chiplet-based client CPU, using tile modules such as I/O cores, CPU cores, and GPU cores.

Data released by Intel shows that the Intel 4’s fin pitch has dropped to 30 nanometers, which is 0.88 times the size of the Intel 7’s 34 nanometer pitch. Likewise, the spacing between the contact gates is now 50nm, down from 60nm previously.Intel claims Intel 4 is twice as dense as Intel 7or more specifically, the size of the transistors has been cut in half.

Additionally, the new process makes significant changes to the metal layers. Intel replaced copper with cobalt at the bottom layer of its Intel 7 process, which the company believes is necessary for transistor longevity reasons. However, cobalt is not that great from a performance standpoint and has long been suspected to be one of the main stumbling blocks for Intel’s Intel 7.

For Intel 4, Intel is still using cobalt, but now instead of pure cobalt they are using what is called enhanced copper (eCu), or copper clad cobalt.

In terms of performance, it is reported that the frequency of Intel 4 is 21.5% higher than that of Intel 7 under the same power of 0.65v. At 0.85v and above, the isopower gain is close to 10%.

According to Intel,Intel 4 has bigger gains in power efficiency. At the same frequency (around 2.1 GHz), the Intel 4 consumes 40% less power. Diminishing returns as frequency increases.