Gordon E. Moore was the original co-founder of Intel, and he came up with a theory that has held true since 1965. In its simplest form, it basically states that the amount of transistors on a circuit board will double about every 18 to 24 months. This measure of transistor capacity has become known as ‘Moore’s Law’ and you may see reference to this in technology articles from time to time.

Over at Intel’s site there’s a chart showing the increase of transistors from about 1970 to the present. Right now the chart indicates that there are about one billion transistors on a dual-core Itanium 2 chip. That is a lot of computing power on a small piece of silicon which measures only about a inch or so squared.

On the site it states:

The key to ensuring that Moore’s Law continues is that the transistor itself must evolve from the planar (flat) structure generally used today. Many new ideas have been proposed to solve the evolving issues. One radical proposal currently being studied involves a three-dimensional, tri-gate transistor. These new transistors achieve higher performance with greater power efficiency than traditional planar transistors, and are designed such that they can continue to be scaled down while being reasonably simple to manufacture.

There are many ways to solve the issues that the industry now faces. The resourceful engineers and scientists in the semiconductor industry have faced previous challenges and risen to the occasion, and they will do so again.

Some see Moore’s law continuing on for at least the next 10 to 15 years. So we will continue to get faster and faster computers for the forseeable future.

Comments welcome.

Intel’s site is here.

[tags]intel, processor,moore’s law, speed, transistors[/tags]