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Even for transistor density, it isn’t quite true. The transistors aren’t getting any smaller like they use to. A lot of growth now involves stacking transistors
by _hypx 4y ago
Even for transistor density, it isn’t quite true. The transistors aren’t getting any smaller like they use to. A lot of growth now involves stacking transistors on top of each other. 3D transistors lets you pack more of them closer together. While this allows for further increases in transistor density, you can argue that it is no longer an exponential function anymore.
- wtallis 4y ago> A lot of growth now involves stacking transistors on top of each other. Approximately none of the growth thus far involves stacking transistors on top of each other, unless you count 3D NAND flash memory. FinFETs and upcoming GAAFETs are less planar than traditional transistor designs, but still don't get you two or more separate transistors stacked on top of each other. Actual 3D stacking of transistors on a single wafer is still nothing more than a hot topic for R&D, and stacking multiple dies full of transistors is pretty much only done with memory so far.
- _hypx 4y agoWell I was counting on NAND flash. That's how are getting more transistors per chip with them. The memory cells have basically stopped shrinking in NAND and actually got bigger when we first started to stack them. FinFETs effectively lets us pack transistors closer. This is because much of the structure of a transistor is in a 3D fin that sticks out of the wafer. By making the fin taller, you can pack the transistors even closer. But it can be argued that by volume, transistors are basically the same size. GAAFETs lets us go even further with this idea.