Intel 4 process will first be used in Intel’s upcoming Meteor Lake processors, which will be part of the 14th generation Intel Core family. In addition to significant advances in process technology, Meteor Lake will also be Intel’s first tile/chiplet-based client CPU that uses tile modules such as I/O cores, CPU cores, and GPU cores.
Intel unveils Intel 4 process: 2x density, over 20% performance increase, the debut of Gen 14 core
Data released by Intel shows that the Intel 4’s fin spacing has dropped to 30nm, which is 0.88 times the 34nm spacing of the Intel 7. Also, the contact gate spacing is now 50 nm instead of 60 nm previously, and Intel claims that Intel 4 process is twice as dense as Intel 7, meaning the transistor size has been cut in half.
In addition, the new process brings significant changes to the metal layers. Intel has replaced copper with cobalt in the bottom layer of its Intel 7 process, which the company says is necessary for transistor life. However, cobalt is not as good from a performance standpoint and has long been suspected as one of the biggest stumbling blocks for Intel Intel 7.
For the Intel 4 process, Intel still uses cobalt, but instead of pure cobalt, it now uses so-called enhanced copper (eCu), which is copper-clad cobalt.
In terms of performance, the Intel 4 process is said to have a 21.5% higher frequency than the Intel 7 at 0.65 V iso-power. At 0.85 V and above, the iso-power gain is nearly 10%.
Intel claims that the Intel 4 process has higher power efficiency. At the same frequency (around 2.1 GHz), the Intel 4 consumes 40% less power. The gain decreases with increasing frequency.
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