2 Moore’s Law is a computing term which originated around 1970; the simplified version of this law states that processor speeds, or overall processing power for computers will double every two years. A quick check among technicians in different computer companies show that the term is not very popular but the rule is still accepted. To break down the law even further, it specifically stated that the number of transistors on an affordable CPU would double every two years (which is essentially the same thing that was stated before) but more transistors’ is more accurate. If you were to look at processor speeds from the 1970’s to 2009 and then again in 2010, one may think that the law has reached its limit or is nearing the limit. In the 1970’s processor speeds ranged from 740 KHz to 8MHz; notice that the 740 KHz, which is Kilo Hertz- while the 8 is MHz, which is Mega Hertz. From 2000-2009 there has not really been much of speed difference as the speeds ranged from 1.3 GHz to 2.8 GHz, which suggests that the speeds have barely doubled within a 10 year span. This is because we are looking at the speeds and not the number of transistors; in 2000 the number of transistors in the CPU numbered 37.5 million, while in 2009 the number went up to an outstanding 904 million; this is why it is more accurate to apply the law to transistors than to speed. With all this talk of transistors the average technician or computer user may not understand what the figures mean; a simpler way to explain is that the earlier CPUs on the market had a single speed or frequency rating while the newer models have a rating which refers to more than one CPU. If you have purchased a computer recently you might have an idea of what this means as salespersons may have sold you on the wonders of multi-core CPUs. The speeds over a large number of years went between 1.3 and 2.8, which is barely double but what needs to be kept in mind is that the 2.8 is a QUAD CORE while the 1.3 is a single CORE. This means that the actual power of the 2.8 would be found if you multiply by four- which would give you a whopping 11.2 which is a far cry from 1.3.
Due to the rapid rate that technology has grown in the past few years, most computer technicians you speak with – weather they have heard of Moore’s Law or not will tell you that CPU speeds double each years. Though Moore’s Law had said every two years, this rapid increase in technological production has lessened the period in the minds of technicians and users alike. The limitation which exists is that once transistors can be created as small as atomic particles, and then there will be no more room for growth in the CPU market where speeds are concerned.

The growth of transistors used in integrated circuits has nearly doubled every 18 months give or take a little. In the semiconductor sector, where the challenge is to double the number of transistors you can fit on a chip every 18 months, transistor widths are approaching the one atom dimension and will soon require the invention of new materials for the sector to advance. Today’s semiconductor chip is about the size of a thumbnail and contains roughly 100 million transistors. The more transistors, the smarter the chip, the overarching goal being to create chips that is smaller, faster and suck less power. As chip designers meet that goal, they continuously shrink transistors and the designs become more intricate. New methods include mechanically assembling chips one molecule at a time and growing integrated circuits from biological seeds. Although still at the basic research stage, both processes are gaining investment dollars and attention. The integrated circuit concept has carried through even to today. In fact, the number of transistors per unit area, on a circuit, doubles every 1.5 years. This has been termed Moore’s Law, named for the principle’s mastermind, and Intel Corporation founder Gordon Moore. In 1971, an Intel processor was developed with 2,300 transistors, while by 1997; the Intel Pentium II microprocessor featured 7.5 million transistors. Although hundreds of chips are usually built on a single wafer the next steps focus on small piece of a chip – a transistor. The market for discrete power transistors was worth $12.3 billion in 2012, a year on year fall of 8 per cent brought about by weak economic growth, according to market researcher IC insights. Power transistor sales are forecast to increase 7 per cent in 2013 to $13.2 billion, followed by an 8 per cent rise in 2014.