WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 We've gone from playing text-based Zork on a machine that weighs as much as a child 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.000 to having 4K video cameras in our pockets in the space of only about 40 years. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:17.000 And a huge reason behind that is that we've been able to fit more and more transistors into our processors over the years. 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:23.000 Transistors are the tiny building blocks of electronics that form logic gates that enable your gadgets to think. 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:28.000 These days, we've gotten accustomed to transistors that are somewhere between 5 and 20 nanometers wide. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:33.000 That's 5 to 20 billionths of a meter to power our electronic toys. 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:39.000 To put that into perspective, CPUs with 600 nanometer transistors came on the scene in 1994, 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:45.000 meaning they've shrunk by over 100 times since then, which has enabled us to build processors that are far more powerful. 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:54.000 But now we're getting to the point where transistors are so small that we may have to start measuring them in terms of angstroms rather than nanometers. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:01:00.000 And although this might sound like just another marketing move, there are a couple of reasons behind it. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:07.000 As the transistors get this small, it becomes impossible to express their sizes in integers anymore 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:10.000 if you stick with the traditional nanometer system. It just doesn't go that low. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:18.000 Each time we shrink down to a new size of transistor or process node, the amount the size decreases also sounds less impressive. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:24.000 In other words, going from 22 nanometers to 10 is just as important as when we went from 600 to 250. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:30.000 So as we get down below 2 nanometers, generational improvements might not sound like a big deal 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:35.000 if we express them as having transistors that are only a fraction of a nanometer smaller. 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:40.000 But in reality, it's a big increase of the number of transistors actually on the chip. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:43.000 Intel already has plans to switch to the angstrom system, 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:48.000 and they're on record saying that they want to start producing 20A chips in 2024. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:55.000 That's the same as 2 nanometers. Team Blue was planning for 18 angstroms to follow the next year, and to put that into context, 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:59.000 a single silicon atom is about two angstroms in diameter. 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:05.000 So chip manufacturers are quickly starting to run up against the limits of silicon as a base material. 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:09.000 Intel plans to pull this off by redesigning transistors to be more space efficient, 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:14.000 such as with their gate all around approach, which you can learn more about in this video. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:19.000 The general objective behind gate all around is to give the chip greater control over current flow, 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:26.000 which can be a problem with such small transistors as well as enabling transistors to be stacked atop each other more easily, 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:30.000 allowing for the chip maker to cram even more transistors into a CPU. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.000 Another key to the process is extreme ultraviolet lithography, or EUV, 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:39.000 which uses shortwave UV light to extra smaller and smaller transistors into the silicon. 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:43.000 Intel has been slow to adopt EUV compared to Samsung and TSMC, 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:47.000 and the fact that there are only a handful of EUV machines in the world, 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:50.000 and just one company makes them, hasn't helped. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:55.000 But Intel is expected to be the first company to get their hands on a high-annay EUV machine, 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.000 which provides the type of UV light that's needed to etch such tiny transistors. 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:04.000 Of course, Intel doesn't have the best track record when it comes to getting new chip designs off the ground, 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:08.000 but they're hoping this new manufacturing process will help them avoid delays 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.000 such as their well-publicized difficulties with their 10nm chips. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:18.000 All of this being said, one thing to keep in mind is that the exact numbers being slapped on a CPUs 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:23.000 like 10nm and 20 angstrom aren't exact. 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:27.000 There actually isn't an industry-standard method of measuring transistors sizes, 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:33.000 meaning that AMD's 10nm and Intel's 10nm aren't exactly the same. 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:37.000 Intel, for their part, is suddenly acknowledging this by simply naming upcoming nodes 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:43.000 Intel 7, Intel 5, Intel 3, and Intel 20a 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:48.000 without actually including nanometer or angstrom or anything like that in the official designation. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.000 But regardless of exactly how small their newer processes will be, 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:57.000 Intel is hoping that its new chip designs will not only make them more competitive with AMD, 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.000 but also with Samsung and TSMC. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.000 Team Blue is hoping that by using newer UV tech to make more power-efficient chips, 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:08.000 they'll be chosen as a contract manufacturer of smartphone CPUs. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:12.000 A key area that Intel hasn't tried to compete in in many years. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.000 Rip at a mobile. 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.000 I just hope it doesn't lead some kind of fanboy war where one day mobile gamers 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:23.000 will scream at each other in YouTube comments over Intel vs Samsung chips. 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:28.000 Thanks for watching, guys. Like, dislike, check out our other videos, like maybe stacking chips, 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.000 maybe what was that other Intel one we did earlier? 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:37.000 Don't forget to subscribe and follow, and maybe comment some video suggestions of your own below.