Earlier quoted context omitted.
1nm isn't a special number just because it is 1. A nm is one billionth of a metre which itself is an arbitrary length so 1nm is a purely arbitrary cut-off. What you should be asking is how many molecules of silicon and silicon-germanium can be packed into the spaces being talked about at the different fabrication levels of 14nm, 10nm, 7nm, 5nm, and so on. Once you have that information then you can ask what is the sm…
>All I know is that 1nm is not a magic number and that predictions about the demise of transistor scaling have always turned out to be wrong. My prediction is that, as unimaginable as it seems, we'll be able to scale down to the physical limits of the materials. This is very important to be pointed out. The burden of proof should be on the people who suggest that "this time it is different", not on those who correctl…
Re: IBM’s world-first 5nm chip indicates EUV lithography is ready for primetime
#31Isn't a silicon atom only like .2 nm wide? My guess is that a gate needs to be at least a few atoms wide so 1nm would seem to be decently close to the literal limit for silicon.