Intel Foundry is using High-NA EUV on selected Intel 18A layers for a subset of Panther Lake processors. A report published September 18, 2026, said electrical results from the jogged-seam Zipzag test were still pending at that time. Intel and ASML had announced on September 7 that more than one million wafers had been processed across tool certification, research and development, and production.
What Intel’s million-wafer milestone counts
The figure combines wafers processed during tool certification, R&D and production. Panther Lake is part of the production activity, but the total is a cumulative count across those stages—not a count of Panther Lake wafers alone.
Where High-NA appears in Panther Lake
Panther Lake is the code name for Intel Core Ultra Series 3. The reported High-NA use applies to selected layers of Intel 18A in a subset of those processors, rather than every layer or processor in the family.
Intel says the selected High-NA-patterned layers meet or exceed the performance of comparable layers patterned with its conventional NXE platform, which uses a numerical aperture of 0.33. Intel also says overlay, throughput and availability are meeting its expectations. Those statements describe the selected manufacturing layers and process measures.
A September 18 report said the Panther Lake layers were selected to avoid electrical connections crossing the boundary between the two halves of a High-NA exposure field. That distinction matters: production use on those layers and electrical stitching across a seam are separate steps.
Why High-NA makes stitching relevant
Numerical aperture, or NA, describes an optical system’s ability to gather and focus light. A higher NA supports finer patterning. An exposure field is the area patterned in one exposure; when a design spans adjacent fields, stitching aligns the patterns across their boundary.
With a standard 6 × 6-inch mask, the reported field dimensions are:
| Lithography platform | Numerical aperture | Exposure field per exposure |
| Conventional EUV | 0.33 | 26 × 33 mm |
| High-NA EUV | 0.55 | 26 × 16.5 mm |
The smaller High-NA field can make stitching relevant when a design extends beyond one exposure. The seam then becomes a place where electrical connections may need to cross between fields.
What the reported tests had shown
A straight-seam block-and-route test had electrical verification, according to the September 18 account. At the time of that report, electrical results from the more flexible, jogged-seam Zipzag test were still pending. Zipzag’s jogged layout routes around sensitive design regions, so its electrical results address a different seam design from the straight-seam test.
A larger-mask direction
Intel and ASML are working toward a 6 × 12-inch mask format. A larger mask could allow a full conventional reticle field to be exposed without stitching; the format remains a development direction.
