The future of Intel's manufacturing processes

Hitting switches

The transistor, invented in 1948 by Bell Laboratories is what brought about the ability for us to have these extremely complicated computers in very small packages.  The transistor is nothing more than a switch whose status (or “position” in compliance with the switch analogy) is determined by the electricity that is fed to it.  The beauty of the transistor however is that it features no moving parts, allowing it to be very small while still performing its duty.  Combining a large number of these transistors using a material that only conducts electricity under certain conditions (determined by temperature) you have what is called an integrated circuit which was first introduced just over 10 years after the invention of the transistor. 

Millions upon millions of these transistors came together in a special form of an integrated circuit, one that is not only very tiny but programmable as well.  This was the birth of the first microprocessor, the 4004 from Intel. 

The Pentium 4 and Athlon processors of today follow this same basic foundation; they are nothing more than extremely complicated descendants of the 4004.  Part of the evolutionary process has been the constant decrease of the size of these transistors.  This size is what we refer to when we say that the Pentium 4 is built on a 0.18-micron process, the 0.18-micron measurement is in reference to the size of the circuit. 

As CPUs get more and more complex their designs require more and more transistors.  However, if all other variables remain constant, we’d have processors with dies that can be measured in feet, not millimeters.  In order to keep heat production low and yields high, these transistors must get smaller as processors get faster and more complex. 

To the right you can see the actual Pentium 4 core. Kind of big isn't it?

For example, the first x86 processor, the 8088 featured 29,000 transistors with a 3-micron circuit size on a 33mm^2 die.  In comparison, the Pentium 4 features 42 million transistors with a 0.18-micron circuit size on a 217mm^2 die.  The Pentium 4’s die (surface area of the core itself) is only about 6 times as large as that of the 8080 while it has over 1400 times the number of transistors.  Can you imagine how big of a die the Pentium 4 would have if it were made on the same 3-micron process as the 8088?