Semiconductor miniaturisation has followed Moore's Law

Position 1: The industry is therefore exploring three-dimensional chip stacking and novel materials such as gallium nitride as alternative pathways to continued performance gains.

Position 2: This relentless scaling has been achieved through advances in photolithography, which uses progressively shorter wavelengths of light to etch ever-finer circuit patterns onto silicon wafers.

Position 3: Nevertheless, physicists caution that quantum tunnelling effects become uncontrollable as transistors shrink below approximately two nanometres, imposing a fundamental physical barrier to further scaling.

Position 4: Semiconductor miniaturisation has followed Moore's Law for over half a century, with transistor counts on integrated circuits doubling approximately every two years.

Position 5: Extreme ultraviolet lithography, now deployed by leading chipmakers, employs wavelengths of just 13.5 nanometres, enabling features smaller than many protein molecules.