The Last Great Shrink.

The last great shrink in semiconductor process technology is now upon us. There's some debate over which process generation history will judge to be that shrink. It's most likely that Moore's Law will be snagged by the rubber restraint of commercial infeasibility long before it hits the brick wall of basic physics. With each process generation, the incremental cost to move forward increases exponentially while the incremental benefits decrease. Already, at 90nm, there are strong signs the gravy train is running out of steam. Now, instead of everything getting better with each shrink, designers are faced with a situation where they must choose between the big three: power, performance and price.