Today’s Tiny Transistors

Transistors are tiny semiconductor devices on computer chips that control the flow of
electricity. Chip manufacturers strive to fit more and more transistors onto a single chip to
increase the chip’s performance and decrease the cost per function. In 1965, Intel’s cofounder,
Gordon Moore, predicted that the number of transistors on a computer chip would double
approximately every year for at least the next 10 years—this is popularly known as Moore’s
Law [1]. For 50 years, Moore’s Law has held up; although, over time the rate has been
modestly reduced to the number of transistors doubling every two years.

In 1971, Intel’s first computer chip contained 2,300 Intel has kept up with Moore's Law (see figure 2);
transistors, each measuring 10,000 nanometers however, as transistors get smaller, they present
(nm)—slimmer than a strand of human hair [2]. more challenges, such as current leakage. Eventual-
Today, Intel’s featured processor chip has 1.4 billion ly, transistor size will reach its physical limits—what
tri-gate transistors, each measuring 22 nm [3] (see then? How will we be able to increase the computa-
figure 1). Intel’s road map shows that they have de- tion and memory capacity? The research discussed
veloped a 14 nm transistor and will begin working in this issue answers just that.
on a 10 nm transistor in 2015 [4].

FIGURE 1. This illustration compares

Intel’s 32 nm transistor to their 22 nm
transistor. On the left side is the 32 nm
planar transistor in which the current
(represented by the yellow dots) flows in
a plane underneath the gate. On the right
is the 22 nm three-dimensional tri-gate
transistor with current flowing on three
sides of a vertical fin. [Image provided by
Intel Corporation.]

The Next Wave | Vol. 20 No. 3 | 2014 36

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POINTERS: Today's Tiny Transistors

The Moore's Law of Intel Processors

10,000,000,000
Xeon Phi

Nehalem-EX Westmere-EX
3G Core
1,000,000,000 2G Core
Core i5
Itanium 2
Core 2 Duo
Core 2 Duo
Itanium 2
Pentium 4
100,000,000
Pentium M
Pentium 4 Xeon
Pentium III Itanium

Pentium III
10,000,000
Pentium II Celeron
Pentium Pro
Pentium Pentium

486 486 SL
1,000,000

386
286
100,000

8086

10,000
8085
8080
8008
4004
1,000
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

FIGURE 2. Intel has kept up with Moore's Law—the number of transistors on their processors have doubled approximately
every two years.

References
[1] Moore GE. “Cramming more components onto [4] Bohr M, Mistry K [Intel Corporation]. “Intel’s revo-
integrated circuits.” Electronics. 1965;38(8):114–117. doi: lutionary 22 nm transistor technology.” 2011. Available
10.1109/JPROC.1998.658762. at: [Link]
innovations/revolutionary-22nm-transistor-technology-
[2] Intel Corporation. “The story of the Intel 4004.” Avail-
[Link].
able at: [Link]
[Link].
[3] Knight M, Glass N. “Are computer chips on the verge
of a quantum leap?” [Link]. 02 Sep 2013. Available
at: [Link]
are-computer-chips-verge-quantum/.

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