4 ms·

"After all, there aren’t many numbers left between 5 and 0." Math purists may roll their eyes at this statement and clearly even if you are obsessed with integ

"After all, there aren’t many numbers left between 5 and 0." Math purists may roll their eyes at this statement and clearly even if you are obsessed with integers you can just switch to picometers, but I wonder if it is time to start counting atoms. The diameter of a silicon atom is about 0.21 nanometers, so a 5nm process is dealing with features only about 20-30 atoms wide. (edit: found more accurate diameter number)

tombert 7y ago
Wow, this puts things in perspective for me. I knew 5nm was small but I didn't really realize how small until we started getting into "I-have-more-dollars-in-my -wallet-than-this-thing-is-atoms-wide" territory.
- tyleo 7y ago
  One thing I’m always amazed with - and it’s partly due to my lack of understanding of physics at this scale - is that when a processor with components on this scale is dropped a few feet, they aren’t reduced to smithereens. It’s hard for me to contemplate that whatever is holding these few atoms together is so resilient.
  - keldaris 7y ago
    If you find that amazing, contemplate for a moment how nuclear fission and fusion work and the amounts of energy involved there. Apart from a few comparatively exotic things (black holes, neutron stars, etc.), some of the largest force densities that exist are all around us in atomic nuclei (of course, those forces also decay very quickly with distance, but that's a different matter).
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - tim333 7y ago
    The "components on this scale" are pretty light so there's not much force when you accelerate them. If a drop doesn't crack the silicon wafer it's not going to shift the bits and bobs on it.
  - BurningFrog 7y ago
    Not sure how correct this is, but I think of silicon as basically a small metallic rock.
  - zeusk 7y ago
    They are made up of a solid lattice, the components are formed by differential doping. There is some migration, but it is far too slow to have an effect over the lifespan of our electronics. Physical inertia is meaningless over other forces involved in the lattice.
alokv28 7y ago
The node label (e.g. "5 nm") no longer represents a physical dimension and hasn't for some time -- it's simply a continuation of a naming convention. In fact, while we used to scale down transistors by simply reducing the gate width (where the naming convention originated) we now take far more elaborate steps to do so.
- tntn 7y ago
  Fin width is around the same size as the node name, but yeah gate length at 7nm is nowhere near 7nm.

tombert 7y ago

Wow, this puts things in perspective for me. I knew 5nm was small but I didn't really realize how small until we started getting into "I-have-more-dollars-in-my -wallet-than-this-thing-is-atoms-wide" territory.

tyleo 7y ago
One thing I’m always amazed with - and it’s partly due to my lack of understanding of physics at this scale - is that when a processor with components on this scale is dropped a few feet, they aren’t reduced to smithereens. It’s hard for me to contemplate that whatever is holding these few atoms together is so resilient.
- keldaris 7y ago
  If you find that amazing, contemplate for a moment how nuclear fission and fusion work and the amounts of energy involved there. Apart from a few comparatively exotic things (black holes, neutron stars, etc.), some of the largest force densities that exist are all around us in atomic nuclei (of course, those forces also decay very quickly with distance, but that's a different matter).
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- tim333 7y ago
  The "components on this scale" are pretty light so there's not much force when you accelerate them. If a drop doesn't crack the silicon wafer it's not going to shift the bits and bobs on it.
- BurningFrog 7y ago
  Not sure how correct this is, but I think of silicon as basically a small metallic rock.
- zeusk 7y ago
  They are made up of a solid lattice, the components are formed by differential doping. There is some migration, but it is far too slow to have an effect over the lifespan of our electronics. Physical inertia is meaningless over other forces involved in the lattice.

alokv28 7y ago

The node label (e.g. "5 nm") no longer represents a physical dimension and hasn't for some time -- it's simply a continuation of a naming convention. In fact, while we used to scale down transistors by simply reducing the gate width (where the naming convention originated) we now take far more elaborate steps to do so.

tntn 7y ago
Fin width is around the same size as the node name, but yeah gate length at 7nm is nowhere near 7nm.