Moore's law

Moore's law is the observation that transistor counts on integrated circuits have historically doubled roughly every two years. It describes a long-running industry trend, not a physical law or guarantee.

Gordon Moore: Gordon Moore was an American engineer and co-founder of Intel who described the trend that became Moore's law. His 1965 article identified the early transistor-count trend.
Transistor: A transistor is a semiconductor device that controls or amplifies electrical current. Transistor counts are the quantity whose growth Moore's law describes.
Semiconductor industry: The semiconductor industry designs and manufactures chips and the materials and equipment used to make them. Moore's law became a shared benchmark for this industry's investment and product roadmaps.
Dennard scaling: Dennard scaling describes how transistor dimensions and operating voltage could shrink while maintaining roughly constant power density. It concerns power and voltage behavior, not the transistor-count doubling itself.
Electronics: Electronics is the study and use of circuits and devices that control electrical signals. Moore's law arose from progress in electronic component integration.
Photolithography: Photolithography uses light and patterned masks to define features on semiconductor wafers. Its resolution determines how densely circuit features can be patterned.
Microprocessor: A microprocessor is an integrated circuit that executes instructions as a computer's central processing unit. Rising transistor counts enabled increasingly capable processors.
Kryder's law: Kryder's law is the observed historical growth in magnetic hard-drive areal storage density. It describes storage density growth rather than transistor counts in integrated circuits.
Integrated circuit: An integrated circuit is a set of electronic components fabricated together on a semiconductor substrate. Moore's original observation tracked components integrated onto one circuit.
EUV lithography: Extreme ultraviolet lithography uses 13.5-nanometer light to pattern fine features on semiconductor wafers. It extends patterning capabilities as conventional lithography approaches its limits.

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