Silicon, due to its semi-conductor properties is currently the best known material for microprocessing units. Several Silicon/metal or oxide compounds are used for various effects on current CPUs to alter resistence or conductivity. So how can we improve performance of silicon processors? Well many will know the answer to that and that is down to one of two things.

• The architectural design
• The fabrication process

The architectural design is not something we will touch on as that is a variable that can change at any level, however the fabrication is the playing field, it is what denotes the physical limitation of the CPU die. The smaller the fabrication of transistors, the more transistors you can fit into the same die space. Current fabrication in use by Intel is the 32nm (nano metre) node. This shrinking process follows Moore's Law though there is a limit to that too and that is the atomic level of the material itself. Working at such a fine resolution causes issues too, such as impurities in the material or dust contamination.



Thus the smaller the fabrication the more sensitive the measures needed to be taken to reduce/limit contamination and the more sensitive the manufacturing procedure of silicon wafers to reduce impurities and inconsistencies. Current lithography techniques are very refined to reach the current resolutions and procedures tend to mature as the finer processes become more common.