Samsung’s 1.4nm roadmap now points to production in 2029, according to reporting from the company’s presentation at the 2026 Next-Generation Lithography + Patterning Conference. That is two years later than Samsung’s public 2024 target for SF1.4, and it extends the working life of the company’s 2nm-class manufacturing family.
The distinction is more than a slide-deck shuffle. Samsung had said in its June 2024 roadmap that SF1.4 performance and yield goals were on track for mass production in 2027. The newer schedule has not been supplied as a Samsung press release, so the 2029 target should be treated as conference reporting rather than a separately published corporate commitment.
Tom’s Hardware reports that Samsung plans to keep advancing its SF2 family, including SF2P, SF2X, SF2A and the backside-power-delivery variant SF2Z, before SF1.4 arrives in 2029. The report places SF1.4+ and Samsung’s 1nm-class process at around 2030.
When will Samsung use High-NA EUV?
Samsung plans to introduce High-NA EUV from its A10, or 1nm-class, process and later nodes, according to reported comments from Chang Min Park, a Master VP of Technology at Samsung Electronics. A10 means 10 angstroms, equivalent to 1nm.
Park said Samsung had hoped to use the equipment in volume production at 2nm and 1.4nm, but the technology still needed improvement. He said the company expects it to become necessary at A10 and below and is developing it with partners.
High-NA EUV is a more capable version of the light-based patterning equipment used in semiconductor fabrication. Its optical numerical aperture rises from 0.33 to 0.55, allowing finer features to be resolved. For some layers, that can replace several Low-NA EUV exposures, known as multi-patterning, with a single exposure.
That does not mean a 1nm label triggers an instant, factory-wide switch. The reporting says conventional 0.33-NA EUV multi-patterning is expected to remain in use alongside High-NA single-patterning through the 1.4nm and 1nm generations. The useful question is layer by layer: whether the additional resolution justifies the tool and process cost.
High-NA systems cost more than current EUV machines and have a smaller exposure field, Tom’s Hardware reports, which can complicate large-chip layouts by requiring die stitching. They also depend on improvements across photoresists, masks, pellicles, metrology, inspection and computational lithography. Samsung has reportedly used an ASML Twinscan EXE:5000 High-NA scanner for research for more than a year, but its planned production insertion remains around 2030.
The longer SF2 interval is an attempt, in Tom’s Hardware’s interpretation, to make that family more competitive on yield and production volume. Samsung itself has publicly established only the earlier 2027 SF1.4 goal in the evidence available here; the revised timing and High-NA threshold come from the 2026 conference reports.
This story draws on original reporting from Tom's Hardware.
