Intel co-founder and former CEO Gordon Moore made an observation in 1965. He noticed that the number of transistors on a silicon chip doubled every year, and revised that in 1975. After the revision, the “Law” stated that the number of transistors on a silicon chip doubles every other year.
Tech firms like Samsung and IBM are working to keep Moore’s Law alive for some years to come
As the number of transistors inside a chip grows, the size of each one continues to shrink because that is the only way to fit more transistors inside each chip without making the chip bigger. Next year TSMC is expected to start testing the production of chips using the 3nm process node and it isn’t clear whether it will be able to use this node for the A16 Bionic or whether the 2022 iPhone models will be powered by a 4nm SoC.
The bottom line, according to the two tech firms, is that chips using the VTFET transistors will be able to perform twice as fast as previous components or consume 85% less energy than chips powered by FinFET transistors. TSMC is sticking to FinFET for its 3nm process node while Samsung is expected to move to Gate All-Around (GAA) for its 3nm chips. IBM and Samsung say that VTFET chips could someday allow smartphones to go a full week without charging up the batteries.
RibbonFET is Intel’s version of Gate All-Around which we previously pointed out is what Samsung plans on using with its 3nm chips. The best minds in the business are working to keep Moore’s Law alive and the future of all the products we love is at stake.