Intel has officially opened Mod3, an additional manufacturing facility with which it has expanded its state-of-the-art D1X R&D facility in Oregon. They took three years to build and cost $3 billion. At the opening ceremony, it was announced that the expanded D1X-Mod3 factory put into operation will bring Intel closer to becoming a leader in semiconductor technology.
The clean rooms included in the “extension” Mod3 have an area of 25,000 m2. They increase the total clean room area of the D1X factory built in 2010 by around 20%. The modernization made will make it possible to install new production equipment at the factory to master the next generations of technical processes, which will subsequently be reproduced at factories around the world. Thus, Mod3 is primarily needed for the timely deployment of Intel 20A and 18A technical processes, as well as for work on RibbonFET and PowerVia technologies.
D1X, together with the new Mod3 capacity, will become Intel’s flagship enterprise, which will be responsible for realizing the key goal of achieving five process standards in four years and achieving technological leadership in the semiconductor industry by 2025. An increase in the area of clean rooms will make it possible to install equipment for the production of chips using high numerical aperture EUV lithography, for example, the advanced ASML TWINSCAN EXE:5200 machine, which has significantly increased dimensions and weight.
«With the expansion of our D1X plant, our Oregon facility is well positioned to embrace the next generation of advanced technology.”, said Ann Kelleher, Intel executive vice president and general manager of technology development.
Intel also named its Hillsborough Technology Park after Gordon Moore, the legendary engineer who co-founded Intel. And the main building on campus, formerly known as RA4, will now be called the Gordon Moore Center.
«Oregon has long been a premier center for semiconductor research and development, and I can’t think of a better way to honor Gordon Moore’s legacy than to give his name to a campus that, like him, has played a huge role in the growth of our industry.”, – said the head of Intel, Pat Gelsinger (Pat Gelsinger) at the ceremony. Moore himself never worked in Oregon. He is now 93 and lives in Hawaii.
However, according to Intel executives, it was the Oregon site that was responsible for following Moore’s Law and developing advanced manufacturing processes. It was here that transistors with a dielectric with a high dielectric constant and with a metal gate, three-dimensional transistors with strained silicon, and so on were developed.
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