WEBVTT - How Moore's Law Works

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

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<v Speaker 1>tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hi there,

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<v Speaker 1>and welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Pollette.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm an editor here at how Stuff Works, and with

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<v Speaker 1>me is writer Jonathan Strickland. Hey there, Yeah, we were

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<v Speaker 1>coming up with ideas for the tech Stuff podcast, and um,

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<v Speaker 1>instead of doing an article, we we found one of

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<v Speaker 1>those concepts that runs across several of our articles. And

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<v Speaker 1>it's called Moore's law. That's right, and uh, don't let

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<v Speaker 1>the name fool you. It's it's not actually a law.

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<v Speaker 1>You're not gonna get in trouble. If you break it,

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<v Speaker 1>you'll probably get a round of applause. Moore's laws is

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<v Speaker 1>more of a concept that's kind of been tweaked a

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<v Speaker 1>bit over the years. It's not exactly the same thing

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<v Speaker 1>as it was when Gordon Moore proposed it back in

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixty five, but in general the concept remains pretty

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<v Speaker 1>much the same. Yeah. As a matter of fact, Gordon Moore,

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<v Speaker 1>who was the founder of intel Um, actually didn't even

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<v Speaker 1>want to call it More's law. His friend from cal

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<v Speaker 1>Tech a professor cal Tech, decided to call it More's law.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a concept that doctor Moore Um proposed than

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<v Speaker 1>a paper with the exciting title Cramming More Components on

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<v Speaker 1>the Integrated Circuits that was published in Electronics magazine in

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<v Speaker 1>ninet And basically what War's law is is, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>he said, as you make uh semiconductors, the more transistors

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<v Speaker 1>that you put on a chip, you will be able

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<v Speaker 1>to duck to double that within the span of a year.

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<v Speaker 1>And uh, you know, he actually had to revise it.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not a law. He had to revise it because

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<v Speaker 1>of the way they manufacture chips. That actually went up

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<v Speaker 1>to uh one and a half years and then two years,

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<v Speaker 1>and you know, now it's starting to slip a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit as the laws of physics are catching up with manufacturing, right.

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<v Speaker 1>And and the definition was tweaked also by saying, okay,

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<v Speaker 1>instead of just saying the number of transistors, maybe maybe

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<v Speaker 1>we should word that as in a computing power, like

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<v Speaker 1>every two years, the computing power on a on a

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<v Speaker 1>chip doubles um. And this has pretty much been holding

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<v Speaker 1>truth throughout the history of of electronics and computing, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>mainly because not not from a technological standpoint, although that

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<v Speaker 1>plays a huge role as people improve manufacturing techniques and

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<v Speaker 1>things like that, But really from a commercial and social standpoint,

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<v Speaker 1>we're talking about companies that they have to meet expectations

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<v Speaker 1>now because everyone knows about Moore's Law, and everyone knows

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<v Speaker 1>that a computer has to be twice as powerful as

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<v Speaker 1>it was two years ago, and now companies feel like

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<v Speaker 1>that that's actually a standard they have to meet. It's

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<v Speaker 1>no longer dictated by technology, it's dictated by expectation. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>that's that's true. Um. If you go into Intel's website,

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<v Speaker 1>they actually have a section of the site dedicated to

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<v Speaker 1>Moore's Law, and if you read through it, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>you don't even really have to read very deeply into it.

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<v Speaker 1>They talk about how they are attempting to keep that standard.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's it's kind of funny that, you know, it's

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<v Speaker 1>it's this nebulous artificial Yeah. Yeah, but they're they're trying

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<v Speaker 1>to make it happen. One of the funny things about

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<v Speaker 1>Dr Moore's prophecy, though, in in nineteen sixty five, is

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<v Speaker 1>um he said that in his paper he says that

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<v Speaker 1>if they are able to meet these standards, that we

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<v Speaker 1>would be able to have certain conveniences, you know, can

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<v Speaker 1>that are able to uh to make our lives easier,

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<v Speaker 1>such as you know, computers in the home or mobile

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<v Speaker 1>communications devices. So he predicted cell phones. Yeah. Um. The

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<v Speaker 1>the interesting thing here is that Moore's law can't go

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<v Speaker 1>on forever, and that's because of the laws of physics.

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<v Speaker 1>The laws of physics state, specifically quantum physics that when

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<v Speaker 1>you get down to a certain level, uh, things, the

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<v Speaker 1>things that a circuit needs to be able to do,

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<v Speaker 1>you just can't do at a certain size. And we're

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<v Speaker 1>talking about just a few nanometers in size, and a

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<v Speaker 1>nanometer is a billion of the eater, so it's very

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<v Speaker 1>very tiny. Well, at five nanometers, a logic gate can

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<v Speaker 1>no longer perform, electron gate can no longer perform what's

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<v Speaker 1>meant to do? Now? These gates, what they do is

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<v Speaker 1>they allow electrons to pass through or not pass through.

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<v Speaker 1>That ends up translating into a one or a zero

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<v Speaker 1>basic bits here. But an electron gate that's five nanometers

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<v Speaker 1>are smaller in size, can't do that because an electron

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<v Speaker 1>can tunnel through it. It doesn't actually make a hole,

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<v Speaker 1>it just passes through. It's as if it's on one

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<v Speaker 1>side at one moment and on the other side of

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<v Speaker 1>the other, and and somehow it just passes through. It's

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<v Speaker 1>one of those weird things about quantum mechanics. So you

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<v Speaker 1>can't make anything that size because you can't control the electrons.

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<v Speaker 1>So that that's that's really the limit. Even if we

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<v Speaker 1>figure out a way of making things that's small, it

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<v Speaker 1>won't work. I also read that of course, as you

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<v Speaker 1>increase the number of transitions, you're also increasing the amount

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<v Speaker 1>of electricity that it needs, and that also affects the

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<v Speaker 1>amount of cool ing that you're going to have to

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<v Speaker 1>have because that everything up so um. It's just a

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<v Speaker 1>matter of time, I guess, before we reach the end

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<v Speaker 1>of Moore's law, and then we'll have to see what

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<v Speaker 1>manufacturers do to to, you know, just pump up computers

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<v Speaker 1>and electronics just that much more, right, whatever tricks they

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<v Speaker 1>pull out of their bags. Well, if you'd like to

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<v Speaker 1>read more about articles that in which we mentioned More's law,

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<v Speaker 1>and you can read Jonathan's how quantum computing will work

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<v Speaker 1>and how PCs work, And there are several others on

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com that are up today that

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<v Speaker 1>you can check out. So for now, thank you. Very

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<v Speaker 1>much for listening. For more on this and thousands of

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<v Speaker 1>other topics, does it how stuff works dot Com Let

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