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Why are nodes a linear step of 2nm? It seems to me that going from 7nm to 5nm (a factor 1.4) is a smaller step than going from 5nm to 3nm (a factor 1.6666). No
by rocqua 7y ago
Why are nodes a linear step of 2nm?
It seems to me that going from 7nm to 5nm (a factor 1.4) is a smaller step than going from 5nm to 3nm (a factor 1.6666). Not just a smaller step in engineering effort, but also in effect size.
- wtallis 7y agoIt's not a linear scale, it's just that we're still rounding to integers, so we're going from 7 to 5 instead of 4.9 and then to 3 instead of 3.5. Since we've long since departed from having node names correspond to any physical dimension or even a meaningful composite of critical dimensions, the only thing wrong with sticking to simple integer naming is that we might run out of smaller integers before we run out of ways to improve silicon fabrication.
- rocqua 7y agoAh, so its a factor of sqrt(2) on the length scale, corresponding to a factor 2 of area and (I guess) a factor of 2 improvement in transistors/cm^2. Makes sense, thanks!